THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


FRANCIS  BACON  AT  9  YEARS  OF  AGE. 

From  Hie  bust  ul  Gorhambury. 


THE  MYSTERY 


OF 


FRANCIS  BACON 


BY 

WILLIAM     T.     SMEDLEY. 


Ad   D.B. 

"  Si  bene  qui  latuit,  bene  vixit,  tu  bene  vivis  : 
Ingeniumque  tuum  grande  latendo  patet." 

—  John  Owen's  Epigrammalum,  1612. 


LONDON : 

ROBERT     BANKS    &    SON, 
RACQUET    COURT,     FLEET     STREET      E.C. 

IQI2. 


"  But  such  is  the  infelicity  and  unhappy  disposition 
of  the  human  mind  in  the  course  of  invention  that  it 
first  distrusts  and  then  despises  itself :  first  -will  not 
believe  that  any  such  thing  can  be  found  out;  and 
•when  it  is  found  out,  cannot  understand  how  the  world 
should  have  missed  it  so  long." 

— "NovuM  ORGANUM,"  Chap.  CX. 


College 
-Library 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

Preface  ...  ...  ...  ...  ...  ...      5 

CHAPTER 

I. — Sources  of  Information  ...  ...  ...  ...      9 

II. — The  Stock  from  which  Bacon  Came       ...  ...     14 

"'III, — Francis  Bacon,  1560  to  1572     ...  ...  ...     19 

IV.— At  Cambridge  ...  ...  ...  ...  ...     25 

V. — Early  Compositions        ...  ...  ...  ...    29 

VI. — Bacon's  "  Temporis  Partus  Maximus  "    ...  ...    36 

VII. —  Bacon's  First  Allegorical  Romance          ...  ...     47 

VIII. —  Bacon  in  France,   1576 — 1579     ...  ...  ...     52 

IX. — Bacon's  Suit  on  His  Return  to  England,  1580      ...    62 
X.— The  "Rare  and  Unaccustomed  Suit"     ...  ...     76 

XI. — Bacon's  Second  Visit  to  the  Continent  and  After     82 
XII. — Is  it  Probable  that  Bacon  left  Manuscripts  Hidden 

Away?        ...  ...  ...  ...  ...     94 

XIII. — How  the  Elizabethan  Literature  was  Produced  ...    98 

XIV.— The  Clue  to  the  Mystery  of   Bacon's  Life  ...  103 

XV. — Burghley  and  Bacon      ...  ...  ...  ...   114 

XVI. —The   1623  Folio  Edition  of   Shakespeare's  Plays...  123 
XVII.— The  Authorised  Version  of  the  Bible,  1611        ...  126 
XVIII.— How  Bacon  Marked   Books  with   the   Publication 

of  Which   He  Was  Connected          ...  ...  132 

XIX. — Bacon  and  Emblemata  ...  ...  ...   140 


±f  *  q  <~*  <~»  f 
L^o-jfc 


IV  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

JSX.X.. — Shakespeare's  Sonnets  ...            ...            ...  ...  148 

XXI. — Bacon's  Library             ...            ...            ...  ...  156 

XXII. — Two  German  Opinions  on  Shakespeare  and  Bacon  161 

XXIII. — The  Testimony  of  Bacon's  Contemporaries  ...  170 
XXIV.— The  Missing  Fourth  Part  of  "  The  Great  Instaura- 

tion "          ...            ...            ...            ...  ...  177 

XXV.— The  Philosophy  of  Bacon          ...            ...  ...   187 

Appendix           ...            ...             ...             ...  ...  193 


PREFACE. 


Is  there  a  mystery  connected  with  the  life  of  Francis 
Bacon  ?  The  average  student  of  history  or  literature 
will  unhesitatingly  reply  in  the  negative,  perhaps  quali- 
fying his  answer  by  adding  : — Unless  it  be  a  mystery  that 
a  man  with  such  magnificent  intellectual  attainments 
could  have  fallen  so  low  as  to  prove  a  faithless  friend 
to  a  generous  benefactor  in  the  hour  of  his  trial,  and, 
upon  being  raised  to  one  of  the  highest  positions  of 
honour  and  influence  in  the  State,  to  become  a  corrupt 
public  servant  and  a  receiver  of  bribes  to  pervert  justice. 
— It  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable  circumstances  to  be 
found  in  the  history  of  any  country  that  a  man  admit- 
tedly pre-eminent  in  his  intellectual  powers,  spoken  of 
by  his  contemporaries  in  the  highest  terms  for  his 
virtues  and  his  goodness,  should,  in  subsequent  ages,  be 
held  up  to  obloquy  and  scorn  and  seldom  be  referred  to 
except  as  an  example  of  a  corrupt  judge,  a  standing  warn- 
ing to  those  who  must  take  heed  how  they  stand  lest 
they  fall.  Truly  the  treatment  which  Francis  Bacon 
has  received  confirms  the  truth  of  the  aphorism,  "The 
evil  that  men  do  lives  after  them  ;  the  good  is  oft  interred 
with  their  bones." 

It  is  not  the  intention  in  the  following  brief  survey  of 
Bacon's  life  to  enter  upon  any  attempt  to  vindicate  his 
character.  Since  his  works  and  life  have  come  promi- 
nently before  the  reading  public,  he  has  never  been 
without  a  defender.  Montagu,  Hepworth  Dixon,  and 
Spedding  have,  one  after  the  other,  raised  their  voices 
against  the  injustice  which  has  been  done  to  the  memory 

B 


6         THE  MYSTERY  OF  FRANCIS  BACON. 

of  this  great  Englishman  ;  and  although  Macaulay,  in 
his   misleading  and  inaccurate   essay,*   abounding    in 
paradoxes  and  inconsistencies,  produced  the  most  power- 
ful, though  prejudiced,  attack  which  has  been   made  on 
Bacon's  fame,  he  may  almost  be  forgiven,  because  it  pro- 
vided the  occasion  for  James  Spedding  in  "Evenings 
with   a   Reviewer,"  to   respond  with   a  thorough  and 
complete  vindication  of  the  man  to  whose  memory  he 
devoted  his  life.     There  rests  on  every  member  of  the 
Anglo-Saxon  race  an  obligation — imposed  upon  him  by 
the  benefits  which  he  enjoys  as  the  result  of  Francis 
Bacon's  life-work — to  read  this  vindication  of  his  charac- 
ter.     Nor  should  mention  be  omitted  of  the  essay  by 
Mr.  J.  M.  Robertson  on  "  Francis  Bacon  "  in  his  excellent 
work    "Pioneer   Humanists."      All  these  defenders  of 
Bacon  treat  their  subject  from  what  may  be  termed  the 
orthodox  point  of  view.     They   follow   in   the   beaten 
track.     They  do  not  look  for  Bacon  outside  his  acknow- 
ledged works  and  letters.     Since   1857,  however,  there 
has    been   steadily  growing   a  belief  that   Bacon  was 
associated  with  the  literature  of  the  Elizabethan  and 
early  Jacobean  periods,  and  that  he  deliberately  con- 
cealed his  connection  with  it.     That  this  view  is  scouted 
by    what    are    termed   the    men    of  letters    is     well- 
known.     They    will    have    none    of  it.      They   refuse 
its  claim    to    a  rational  hearing.       But,    in    spite  of 

0  Attention  is  drawn  to  one  of  the  inaccuracies  in  "  An  Intro- 
duction to  Mathematics,"  by  A.  W.  Whithead,  Sc.D.,  F.R.S.,  pub- 
lished in  the  Home  University  Library  of  Modern  Knowledge. 
The  author  says  :  "  Macaulay  in  his  essay  on  Bacon  contrasts  the 
certainty  of  mathematics  with  the  uncertainty  of  philosophy,  and 
by  way  of  a  rhetorical  example  he  says,  '  There  has  been  no 
re-action  against  Taylor's  theorem.'  He  could  not  have  chosen 
a  worse  example.  For,  without  having  made  an  examination  of 
English  text-books  on  mathematics  contemporary  with  the  pub- 
lication of  this  essay,  the  assumption  is  a  fairly  safe  one  that 
Taylor's  theorem  was  enunciated  and  proved  wrongly  in  every 
one  of  them." 


PREFACE.  7 

this,  as  years  go  on,  the  number  of  adherents  to 
the  new  theory  steadily  increases.  The  scornful 
epithets  that  are  hurled  at  them  only  appear  to  whet 
their  appetite,  and  increase  their  determination.  Men 
and  women  devote  their  lives  with  enthusiasm  to  the 
quest  for  further  knowledge.  They  dig  and  delve  in  the 
records  of  the  period,  and  in  the  byeways  of  literature. 
Theories  which  appear  extravagant  and  untenable  are 
propounded.  Whether  any  of  these  theories  will  come 
to  be  accepted  and  established  beyond  cavil,  time  alone 
can  prove.  But,  at  any  rate,  it  is  certain  that  in  this 
quest  many  forgotten  facts  are  brought  to  light,  and  the 
general  stock  of  information  as  to  the  literature  of  the 
period  is  augmented. 

In  the  following  pages  it  is  sought  to  establish  what 
may  be  termed  one  of  these  extravagant  theories.  How 
far  this  attempt  is  successful,  it  is  for  the  reader  to 
judge.  Notwithstanding  all  that  may  be  said  to  the 
contrary,  by  far  the  greater  part  of  Francis  Bacon's  life 
is  unknown.  An  attempt  will  be  made  by  the  aid  of 
accredited  documents  and  books  to  represent  in  a  new 
light  his  youth  and  early  manhood.  It  is  contended 
that  he  deliberately  sought  to  conceal  his  movements 
and  work,  although,  at  the  same  time,  he  left  the  land- 
marks by  which  a  diligent  student  might  follow  them. 
In  his  youth  he  conceived  the  idea  that  the  man  Francis 
Bacon  should  be  concealed,  and  be  revealed  only  by  his 
works.  The  motto,  "  Mente  videbor  " — by  the  mind  I 
shall  be  seen — became  the  guiding  principle  of  his  life. 


THE   MYSTERY 


OF 


FRANCIS   BACON. 


CHAPTER  I. 
SOURCES    OF    INFORMATION. 

THE  standard  work  is  "  The  Life  and  Letters  of  Francis 
Bacon,"  by  James  Spedding,  which  was  published  from 
1858 — 1869.  It  comprises  seven  volumes,  with  3,033 
pages.  The  first  twenty  years  of  Bacon's  life  are 
disposed  of  in  8  pages,  and  the  next  ten  years  in  95 
pages,  of  which  43  pages  are  taken  up  with  three  tracts 
attributed  to  him.  There  is  practically  no  information 
given  as  to  what  should  be  the  most  important  years  of 
his  life.  The  two  first  volumes  carry  the  narrative  to 
the  end  of  Elizabeth's  reign,  when  Bacon  had  passed 
his  fortieth  year.  There  is  in  them  a  considerable  con- 
tribution to  the  history  of  the  times,  but  a  critical 
perusal  will  establish  the  fact  that  they  add  very  little 
to  our  knowledge  of  the  man,  and  they  fail  to  give  any 
adequate  idea  of  how  he  was  occupied  during  those 
years.  In  the  seven  volumes  513  letters  of  Bacon's  are 
printed,  and  of  these  no  less  than  238  are  addressed  to 
James  I.  and  the  Duke  of  Buckingham,  and  were 
written  during  the  last  years  of  his  life.  The  biographies 
by  Montagu  and  Hepworth  Dixon  are  less  pretentious, 
but  contain  little  more  information. 


10        THE  MYSTERY  OF  FRANCIS  BACON. 

The  first  published  Life  of  Bacon  appears  to  have  been 
unknown  to  all  these  writers.  In  1631  was  published  in 
Paris  a  translation  of  the  "  Sylva  Sylvarum,"  as  the 
"  Histoire  Naturelle  de  Mre.  Francois  Bacon."  Pre- 
fixed to  it  is  a  chapter  entitled  "Discours  sur  la  vie  de 
Mre.  Francois  Bacon,  Chancelier  D'Angleterre."  Refer- 
ence will  be  made  to  this  important  discourse  hereafter. 
It  is  sufficient  for  the  present  to  say  that  it  definitely 
states  that  during  his  youth  Bacon  travelled  in  Italy  and 
Spain,  which  fact  is  to-day  unrecognised  by  those  who 
are  accepted  as  authorities  on  his  life.  In  1647  there 
was  published  at  Leyden  a  Dutch  translation  of  forty- 
six  of  Bacon's  Essays — the  "  Wisdom  of  the  Ancients  " 
and  the  "  Religious  Meditations."  The  translation  is 
by  Peter  Boener,  an  apothecary  of  Nymegen,  Holland, 
who  was  in  Bacon's  service  for  some  years  as  domestic 
apothecary,  and  occasional  amanuensis,  and  quitted  his 
employment  in  1623.  Boener  added  a  Life  of  Bacon 
which  is  a  mere  fragment,  but  contains  testimony  by  a 
personal  attendant  which  is  of  value.  In  1657  William 
Rawley  issued  a  volume  of  unpublished  manuscripts 
under  the  title  of  "  Resuscitatio,"  and  to  these  he  added 
a  Life  of  the  great  Philosopher.  Rawley  is  only  once 
mentioned  by  Bacon.  His  will  contains  the  sentence  : 
"I  give  to  my  chaplain,  Dr.  Rawleigh,  one  hundred 
pounds."  Rawley  was  born  in  1590.  When  he  became 
associated  with  his  master  is  not  known,  but  it  could 
only  have  been  towards  the  close  of  his  life.  Bacon 
appears  to  have  reposed  great  confidence  in  him.  In 
1627,*  the  year  following  Bacon's  death,  he  published  the 
"Sylva  Sylvarum."  This  must  have  been  in  the  press 
before  Bacon's  death.  Rawley  subsequently  published 
other  works,  and  was  associated  with  Isaac  Gruter 
during  the  seventeenth  century  in  producing  on  the 
continent  various  editions  of  Bacon's  works. 

*  There  are  copies  of  this  work  bearing  date  1626,  the  year  in 
which  Bacon  died. 


SOURCES   OF   INFORMATION.  II 

Rawley's  account  of  Bacon's  life  is  meagre,  and, 
having  regard  to  the  wealth  of  information  which  must 
have  been  at  his  disposal,  it  is  a  very  disappointing 
production.  Still,  it  contains  information  which  is  not 
to  be  found  elsewhere.  How  incomplete  it  is  may  be 
gathered  from  the  fact  that  there  is  no  reference  in  it  to 
Bacon's  fall.  • 

In  1665  was  published  a  volume,  "  The  Statesmen 
and  Favourites  of  England  since  the  Reformation."  It 
was  compiled  by  David  Lloyd.  The  biographies  of  the 
Elizabethan  statesmen  were  written  by  someone  who 
was  closely  associated  with  them,  and  who  appears  to 
have  had  exceptional  opportunities  of  obtaining  informa- 
tion as  to  their  opinions  and  characters.*  As  to  how 
these  lives  came  into  Lloyd's  possession  nothing  is 
known.  Prefixed  to  the  biographies  are  two  pages  con- 
taining "  The  Lord  Bacon's  judgment  in  a  work  of  this 
nature."  The  chapter  on  Bacon  is  a  most  important 
contribution  to  the  subject,  but  it  also  appears  to  have 
escaped  the  notice  of  Spedding,  -Hepworth  Dixon,  and 
Montagu.  In  1658  Francis  Osborn,  in  Letters  to  his 
son,  gives  a  graphic  description  of  the  Lord  Chancellor. 
Perhaps  one  can  better  picture  Bacon  as  he  was  in  the 
strength  of  his  manhood  from  Osborne's  account  of  him 
than  from  any  other  source.  Thomas  Bushell,  another 
of  Bacon's  household  dependents,  published  in  1628 
"  The  First  Part  of  Youth's  Errors."  In  a  letter  therein 
addressed  to  Mr.  John  Eliot,  he  has  left  contributions  to 
our  stock  of  knowledge.  There  are  also  some  miscel- 
laneous tracts  written  by  him,  and  published  about  the 
year  1660,  which  contain  references  to  Bacon. 

0  The  concluding  paragraph  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Reader  is  as 
follows  :  "  It's  easily  imaginable  how  unconcerned  I  am  as  to  the 
fate  of  this  Book  either  in  the  History,  or  the  Observations,  since 
I  have  been  so  faithful  in  the  first,  that  it  is  not  my  own,  but  the 
Historians  ;  and  so  careful  in  the  second  that  they  are  not  mine, 
but  the  Histories." 


12  THE   MYSTERY    OF   FRANCIS   BACON. 

Fuller's  Worthies  (1660)  gives  a  short  account  of  his 
life  and  character,  eulogistic  but  sparse.  In  1679  was 
published  "  Baconiana,"  or  Certain  Genuine  Remains 
of  Sir  Francis  Bacon,  &c.,  by  Bishop  Tennison,  but  it 
contains  no  better  account  of  his  life.  Winstanley's 
Worthies  (1684)  relies  entirely  on  Rawley's  Life,  which  is 
reproduced  in  it.  Aubrey's  brief  Lives  were  written  about 
1680.  There  are  references  to  Bacon  in  Arthur 
Wilson's  "  History  of  the  Reign  of  James  I."  ;  in  "  The 
Court  of  James  I.,"  by  Sir  W.  A. ;  in  "Simeon  D'Ewes' 
Diary  "  ;  and,  lastly,  in  his  "  Discoveries,"  Ben  Jonson 
contributes  a  high  eulogy  on  Bacon's  character  and 
attainments. 

In  1702  Robert  Stephens,  the  Court  historiographer, 
published  a  volume  of  Bacon's  letters,  with  an  introduc- 
tion giving  some  account  of  his  life  ;  and  there  was  a 
second  edition  in  1736.  In  1740  David  Mallet  published 
an  edition  of  Bacon's  works,  and  wrote  a  Life  to  accom- 
pany it.  This  was  subsequently  printed  as  a  separate 
volume.  As  a  biography  it  is  without  interest,  as  it 
contains  no  new  facts  as  to  his  life. 

In  1754  memoirs  of  the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth 
from  the  year  1581  to  her  death  appeared,  edited  by 
Dr.  Thomas  Birch.  These  memoirs  are  founded  upon 
the  letters  of  the  various  members  of  the  Bacon  family. 
In  1763  a  volume  of  letters  of  Francis  Bacon  was  issued 
under  the  same  editor. 

Such  are  the  sources  of  information  which  have  come 
down  to  us  in  biographical  notices. 

In  the  British  Museum,  the  Record  Office,  and  else- 
where are  the  originals  of  the  letters  and  the  manuscripts 
of  some  of  the  tracts  which  Spedding  has  printed. 

The  British  Museum  also  possesses  two  books  of 
Memoranda  used  by  Bacon.  The  Transportat  is 
entirely,  and  the  Promus  is  partly,  in  his  handwriting. 
Beyond  his  published  works,  that  is  all  that  so  far  has 
been  available. 


SOURCES  OF   INFORMATION.  13 

Spedding  remarks*:  "What  became  of  his  books 
which  were  left  to  Sir  John  Constable  and  must 
have  contained  traces  of  his  reading,  we  do  not  know, 
but  very  few  appear  to  have  survived." 

Happily,  Spedding  was  wrong.  During  the  past  ten 
years  nearly  2,000  books  which  have  passed  through 
Bacon's  hands  have  been  gathered  together.  These  are 
copiously  annotated  by  him,  and  from  these  annotations 
the  wide  range  and  the  methodical  character  of  his 
reading  may  be  gathered.  Manuscripts  which  were  in 
his  library,  and  at  least  four  common-place  books  in  his 
handwriting,  have  also  been  recovered.  Particulars  of 
these  have  not  yet  been  made  public,  but  the  advantage 
of  access  to  them  has  been  available  in  the  preparation 
this  volume. 


"  Life  and  Letters,"  Vol.  VII.,  page  552. 


CHAPTER  II. 
THE    STOCK    FROM    WHICH    BACON    CAME. 

"  A  PRODIGY  of  parts  he  must  be  who  was  begot  by 
wise  Sir  Nicholas  Bacon,  born  of  the  accomplished 
Mrs.  Ann  Cooke,"  says  an  early  biographer. 

Nicholas  Bacon  is  said  to  have  been  born  at  Chisle- 
hurst,  in  Kent,  in  1509.  He  was  the  second  son  of 
Robert  Bacon,  of  Drinkstone,  in  Suffolk,  Esquire  and 
Sheep-reeve  to  the  Abbey  of  Bury  St.  Edmunds.  It  is 
believed  that  he  was  educated  at  the  abbey  school. 
He  speaks  of  his  intimacy  with  Edmund  Rougham,  a 
monk  of  that  house,  who  was  noted  for  his  wonderful 
proficiency  in  memory.  He  was  admitted  to  the 
College  of  Corpus  Christi,  Cambridge,  and  took  the 
degree  of  B.A.  in  1526-7.  He  went  to  Paris  soon  after- 
wards, and  on  his  return  studied  law  at  Gray's  Inn, 
being  called  to  the  Bar  in  1533,  and  admitted  ancient 
in  1536.  He  was  appointed,  in  1537,  Clerk  to  the  Court 
of  Augmentations.  In  1546  he  was  made  Attorney  of 
the  Court  of  Wards  and  Liveries,  and  continued  as 
such  under  Edward  VI.  Upon  the  accession  of  Mary 
he  conformed  to  the  change  of  religion  and  retained 
his  office  during  her  reign.  Nicholas  Bacon  and 
William  Cecil,  each  being  a  widower,  had  married 
sisters.  When  Elizabeth  came  to  the  throne  Cecil 
became  her  adviser.  He  was  well  acquainted  with 
Nicholas  Bacon's  sterling  worth  and  great  capacity  for 
business,  and  availed  himself  of  his  advice  and  assist- 
ance. The  Queen  delivered  to  Bacon  the  great  seal, 
with  the  title  of  Lord  Keeper,  on  the  22nd  December, 
1558,  and  he  was  sworn  of  the  Privy  Council  and 
knighted.  By  letters  patent,  dated  i4th  April,  1559, 


THE   STOCK   FROM   WHICH   BACON   CAME.  15 

the  full  powers  of  a  Chancellor  were  conferred  upon 
him.  In  1563  he  narrowly  escaped  the  loss  of  his  office 
for  alleged  complicity  in  the  issue  of  a  pamphlet 
espousing  the  cause  of  the  House  of  Suffolk  to  the 
succession.  He  was  restored  to  favour,  and  continued 
as  Lord  Keeper  until  his  death  in  1579.  The  Queen 
visited  him  at  Gorhambury  on  several  occasions.  Sir 
Nicholas  Bacon,  in  addition  to  performing  the  im- 
portant duties  of  his  high  office  in  the  Court  of 
Chancery  and  in  the  Star  Chamber,  took  an  important 
part  in  all  public  affairs,  both  domestic  and  foreign, 
from  the  accession  of  Elizabeth  until  his  death.  He 
first  married  Jane,  daughter  of  William  Fernley,  of 
West  Creting,  Suffolk,  by  whom  he  had  three  sons  and 
three  daughters.  For  his  second  wife  he  married  Anne, 
daughter  of  Sir  Anthony  Cooke,  by  whom  he  had  two 
sons,  Anthony  and  Francis.  It  is  of  more  importance 
for  the  present  purpose  to  know  what  type  of  man  was 
the  father  of  Francis  Bacon.  The  author  of  the  "  Arte 
of  English  Poesie  "  (1589)  relates  that  he  came  upon 
Sir  Nicholas  sitting  in  his  gallery  with  the  works  of 
Quintillian  before  him,  and  adds :  "  In  deede  he  was  a 
most  eloquent  man  and  of  rare  learning  and  wisdome 
as  ever  I  knew  England  to  breed,  and  one  that  joyed 
as  much  in  learned  men  and  good  witts."  This  author, 
speaking  of  Sir  Nicholas  and  Burleigh,  remarks,  "From 
whose  lippes  I  have  seen  to  proceede  more  grave  and 
naturall  eloquence  then  from  all  the  oratours  of  Oxford 
and  Cambridge." 

In  his  "  Fragrnenta  Regalia "  Sir  Robert  Naunton 
describes  him  as  "an  archpeece  of  wit  and  wisdom," 
stating  that  "he  was  abundantly  facetious  which  took 
much  with  the  Queen  when  it  was  suited  with  the 
season  as  he  was  well  able  to  judge  of  his  times." 
Fuller  describes  him  as  "  a  man  of  rare  wit  and  deep 
experience,"  and,  again,  as  "a  good  man,  a  grave 
statesman,  and  a  father  to  his  country."  Bishop 


1 6        THE  MYSTERY  OF  FRANCIS  BACON. 

Burnet  speaks  of  him  as  "  not  only  one  of  the  most 
learned  and  pious  men,  but  one  of  the  wisest  ministers 
this  nation  ever  bred."     The  observations  of  the  author 
of  "  The  Statesmen  and  Favourites  of  England  in  the 
Reign    of  Queen    Elizabeth"    are    very    illuminating. 
"Sir  Nicholas  Bacon,"  he  says,   "was  a  rnan  full  of 
wit  and  wisdome,  a  gentleman  and  a  man  of  Law  with 
great  knowledge  therein."    He  proceeds  :  "  This  gentle- 
man understood  his  Mistress  well  and  the  times  better : 
He  could  raise  factions  to  serve  the  one  and  allay  them 
to  suit  the  others.     He  had  the  deepest  reach  into  affairs 
of  any  man  that  was  at  the  Council  table  :  the  knottiest 
Head  to  pierce  into  difficulties :  the  most  comprehensive 
Judgement  to  surround  the  merit  of  a  cause:  the  strongest 
memory  to   recollect  all  circumstances  of  a  Business 
to  one  View  :  the  greatest  patience  to  debate  and  con- 
sider ;  (for  it  was  he  that  first  said,  let  us  stay  a  little 
and  we  will  have  done  the  sooner :)  and  the  clearest 
reason  to  urge  anything  that  came  in  his  way  in  the 
Court  of  Chancery.    .    .    .    Leicester  seemed  wiser  than 
he  was,    Bacon    was  wiser  than   he    seemed   to    be  ; 
Hunsden  neither  was  nor   seemed  wise.    .    .    .    Great 
was    this    Stateman's  Wit,    greater   the  Fame    of   it ; 
which  as  he  would  say,  being  nothing,  made  all  things. 
For  Report,  though  but  Fancy,  begets  Opinion  ;  and 
Opinion   begets  substance.    .    .    .    He   neither  affected 
nor  attained   to    greatness  :    Mediocria  firma,  was  his 
principle  and  his   practice.      When  Queen  Elizabeth 
asked  him,  Why  his  house  was  so  little  ?  he  answered, 
Madam,  my  house  is  not  too  little  for  me,  but  yon  have 
made  me  too  big  for  my  House.     Give  me,  said  he,  a  good 
Estate  rather  than  a  great  one.    He  had  a  very  Quaint 
saying  and  he  used  it  often  to  good  purpose,  That  he  loved 
the  Jest  well  but  not  the  loss  of  his  Friend.   .    .    .    He 
was  in   a  word,  a  Father  of  his  country  and    of  Sir 
Francis  Bacon." 

Before  speaking  of  Lady  Ann  Bacon,  it  is  necessary 


THE   STOCK   FROM   WHICH   BACON    CAME.  17 

to  give  some  account  of  her  father,  Sir  Anthony  Cooke. 
He  was  a  great-grandson  of  Sir  Thomas  Cooke,  Lord 
Mayor  of  London,  and  was  born  at  Giddy  Hall,  in  Essex. 
Again  the  most  valuable  observations  on  his  character 
are  to  be  found  in  "The  Lives  of  Statesmen  and 
Favourites  "  before  referred  to.  The  author  states  that 
Sir  Anthony  "was  one  of  the  Governors  to  King 
Edward  the  sixth  when  Prince,  and  is  charactered  by 
Mr.  Camden  Vir  antiqua  serenitale.  He  observeth  him 
also  to  be  happy  in  his  Daughters,  learned  above  their 
Sex  in  Greek  and  Latine  :  namely,  Mildred  who  married 
William  Cecil,  Lord  Treasurer  of  England  ;  Anne  who 
married  Nichlas  Bacon,  Lord  Chancellor  of  England ; 
Katherine  who  married  Henry  Killigrew ;  Elizabeth 
who  married  Thomas  Hobby,  and  afterwards  Lord 
Russell,  and  Margaret  who  married  Ralph  Rowlet." 

"Gravity,"  says  this  author,  "  was  the  Ballast  of  Sir 
Anthony's  Soul  and  General  Learning  its  leading  .... 
Yet  he  was  somebody  in  every  Art,  and  eminent  in  all, 
the  whole  circle  of  Arts  lodging  in  his  Soul.  His  Latine, 
fluent  and  proper  ;  his  Greek,  critical  and  exact ;  his 
Philology  and  Observations  upon  each  of  these  lan- 
guages, deep,  curious,  various  and  pertinent :  His  Logic, 
rational  ;  his  History  and  Experience,  general  ;  his 
Rhetorick  and  Poetry,  copious  and  genuine  ;  his  Mathe- 
matiques,  practicable  and  useful.  Knowing  that  souls 
were  equal,  and  that  Women  are  as  capable  of  Learning 
as  Men,  he  instilled  that  to  his  Daughters  at  night, 
which  he  had  taught  the  Prince  in  the  day,  being 
resolved  to  have  Sons  by  education,  for  fear  he  should 
have  none  by  birth ;  and  lest  he  wanted  an  Heir  of  his 
body,  he  made  five  of  his  minde,  for  whom  he  had  at 
once  a  Gavel-kind  of  affection  and  of  Estate." 

"Three  things  there  are  before  whom  (was  Sir 
Anthony's  saying)  I  cannot  do  amis  :  i,  My  Prince  ;  2, 
my  conscience ;  3,  my  children.  Seneca  told  his  sister, 
That  though  he  could  not  leave  her  a  good  portion,  he 


l8  THE    MYSTERY   OF   FRANCIS    BACON. 

would  leave  her  a  good  pattern.  Sir  Anthony  would 
write  to  his  Daughter  Mildred,  My  example  is  your  in- 
heritance and  my  life  is  your  portion  .  .  . 

"  He  said  first,  and  his  Grandchilde  my  Lord  Bacon 
after  him,  That  the  Joys  of  Parents  are  Secrets,  and  so  are 
their  Griefs  and  Fears.  .  .  .  Very  providently  did 
he  secure  his  eternity,  by  leaving  the  image  of  his 
nature  in  his  children  and  of  his  mind  in  his  Pupil. 
.  .  .  The  books  he  advised  were  not  many  but  choice  : 
the  business  he  pressed  was  not  reading,  but  digesting 
.  Sir  John  Checke  talked  merrily,  Dr.  Coxe 
solidly  and  Sir  Anthony  Cooke  weighingly  :  A  faculty 
that  was  derived  with  his  blood  to  his  Grandchilde 
Bacon." 

Such  then  was  the  father  of  Lady  Anne  Bacon.  She 
and  her  sisters  were  famous  as  a  family  of  accomplished 
classical  scholars.  She  had  a  thorough  knowledge  of 
Greek  and  Latin.  An  Apologie  ...  in  defence  of  the 
Churche  of  England  by  Dr.  Jewel,  Bishop  of  Salis- 
bury, was  translated  by  her  from  the  Latin  and  pub- 
lished in  1564.  Sir  Anthony  had  been  exiled  during 
Mary's  reign,  for  his  adherence  to  the  Protestant 
faith.  His  daughter,  Anne,  inherited,  not  only  his 
classical  accomplishments,  but  his  strong  Puritan  faith 
and  his  hatred  of  Popery.  Francis  Bacon  describes 
her  as  "A  Saint  of  God."  There  is  a  portrait  of  her 
painted  by  Nathaniel  Bacon,  her  stepson,  in  which  she 
appears  standing  in  her  pantry  habited  as  a  cook.  In 
feature  Francis  appears  to  have  resembled  his  mother. 
He  "had  the  same  pouting  lip,  the  same  round  head, 
the  same  straight  nose  and  Hebe  chin." 


CHAPTER  III. 
FRANCIS    BACON,    1560   TO   1572. 

IN  the  registry  of  St.  Martin's  will  be  found  this  entry  : 
Mr.  Franciscus  Bacon  1560  Jan  25  (filius  D'm  Nicho 
Bacon  Magni  Anglia  sigilli  custodis)."  Rawley  in  his 
"  Life  of  the  Honourable  Author"  says:  "Francis  Bacon, 
the  glory  of  his  age  and  nation,  was  born  in  York  House 
or  York  Place,  in  the  Strand,  on  the  two  and  twentieth 
day  of  January  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  1560."  He 
relates  that  "  His  first  and  childish  years  were  not 
without  some  mark  of  eminency  ;  at  which  time  he  was 
endued  with  that  pregnancy  and  towardness  of  wit,  as 
they  were  pressages  of  that  deep  and  universal  appre- 
hension which  was  manifest  in  him  afterward."  "  The 
Queen  then  delighted  much  to  confer  with  him,  and  to 
prove  him  with  questions  unto  whom  he  delivered  him- 
self with  that  gravity  and  maturity  above  his  years  that 
Her  Majesty  would  often  term  him  '  Her  young  Lord 
Keeper.'  Being  asked  by  the  Queen  how  old  he  was 
he  answered  with  much  discretion,  being  then  but  a 
boy:>that  he  was  two  years  younger  than  Her  Majesty's 
happy  reign,  with  which  answer  the  queen  was  much 
taken."  In  the  "  Lives  of  the  Statesmen  and  Favourites 
of  Queen  Elizabeth  "  there  is  reference  to  the  early  de- 
velopment of  his  mental  and  intellectual  faculties.  The 
author  writes: — "  He  had  a  large  mind  from  his  Father 
and  great  abilities  from  his  Mother  ;  His  parts  improved 
more  than  his  years,  his  great  fixed  and  methodical 
memory,  his  solide  judgement,  his  quick  fancy,  his  ready 
expression,  gave  assurance  of  that  profound  and  univer- 

0  Lloyd  states  that  this  occurred  when  he  was  seven  years  of 
age. 


2O        THE  MYSTERY  OF  FRANCIS  BACON. 

sal  comprehension  of  things  which  then  rendered  him 
the  observation  of  great  and  wise  men  ;  and  afterwards 
the  wonder  of  all."  The  historian  continues : — "  He 
never  saw  anything  that  was  not  noble  and  becoming," 
"  at  twelve  his  industry  was  above  the  capacity  and  his 
minde  beyond  the  reache  of  his  contemporaries." 

This  boy  so  marvellously  endowed  was  brought  up 
in  surroundings  which  were  ideal  for  his  development. 
His  father,  a  man  of  erudition,  a  wit  and  orator, 
occupying  one  of  the  highest  positions  in  the  country, 
his  mother  a  lady  of  great  classical  accomplishments, 
who  had  enjoyed  the  benefits  of  an  education  and 
training  by  her  father,  that  eminent  scholar,  Sir 
Anthony  Cooke,  and,  lastly,  there  was  this  man — his 
grandfather — living  within  riding  distance  from  his 
home.  It  seems  inevitable  that  the  natural  powers  of 
young  Francis  must  have  excited  a  keen  interest  in  the 
old  tutor  of  Edward  VI.,  who  had  devoted  his  evenings 
to  imparting  to  his  daughters  what  he  had  taught  the 
Prince  during  the  day,  so  that  if  he  left  behind  him  no 
heirs  of  his  body,  he  might  leave  heirs  of  his  mind. 
The  boy  Francis  was,  indeed,  a  worthy  heir  of  his  mind, 
and  it  is  impossible  to  believe  otherwise  than  that  Sir 
Anthony  Cooke  would  throw  himself  heart  and  soul 
into  the  education  of  his  grandchild,  but  no  statement 
or  tradition  has  come  down  to  this  effect.  It  may  be, 
however,  that  a  sentence  which  has  already  been  quoted 
from  "  The  Lives  of  Statesmen  and  Favourites"  is  in- 
tended to  imply  that  Francis  was  the  pupil  of  Sir 
Anthony  :  "  He  said  first  and  his  Grandchilde  my  Lord 
Bacon  after  him,  That  the  Joys  of  Parents  are 
Secrets,  and  so  their  Griefs  and  Fears.  .  .  Very 
providently  did  he  secure  his  Eternity,  by  leaving  the 
image  of  his  nature  in  his  Children  and  of  his  mind  in 
his  Pupil."  The  pupil  referred  to  was  not  Edward  VI.,  for 
he  died  twenty-three  years  before  Sir  Anthony,  and  he 
could  not,  therefore,  have  left  the  image  of  his  mind  in 


FRANCIS   BACON,    1560  TO   1572.  21 

the  young  King.  Following  directly  after  the  sentence 
"  He  said  first  and  his  Grandchilde  Lord  Bacon  after 
him  "  it  is  possible  that  the  reference  may  be  to  the  boy 
Francis.  Certainly  Sir  Anthony  "  would  secure  his 
eternity  "  if  he  left  the  image  of  his  mind  in  his  "  Grand- 
childe." In  any  case  the  prodigious  natural  powers 
of  the  boy  were  placed  in  an  environment  well  suited 
for  their  full  development. 

The  historian  says  that  "  at  twelve  his  industry  was 
above  the  capacity  and  his  mind  beyond  the  reache  of 
his  Contemporaries."  Who  were  the  contemporaries 
alluded  to  ?  Those  of  his  own  age,  or  those  who  were 
living  at  the  time  ?  A  boy  of  twelve,  he  excelled  others 
in  his  great  industry  and  the  wide  range  of  his  mind. 
This  industry  appears  to  have  accompanied  him 
through  life,  for  Rawley  states  that  "  he  would  ever 
interlace  a  moderate  relaxation  of  his  mind  with  his 
studies,  as  walking  or  taking  the  air  abroad  in  his  coach 
or  some  other  befitting  recreation ;  and  yet  he  would 
lose  no  time,  inasmuch  as  upon  the  first  and  immediate 
return  he  would  fall  to  reading  again,  and  so  suffer  no 
movement  of  time  to  slip  from  him  without  some 
present  improvement."  It  is  a  remarkable  fact  on 
which  too  much  stress  cannot  be  laid  that  in  the  two 
Lives  of  Bacon,  scanty  as  they  are,  by  contemporary 
writers,  his  exceptional  industry  is  pointed  out.  There 
are  certainly  no  visible  fruits  of  this  industry. 

Although  there  is  no  definite  information  as  to  what 
was  the  state  of  Francis  Bacon's  education  at  twelve, 
there  is  testimony  as  to  that  of  some  of  his  contempo- 
raries. Three  instances  will  suffice. 

Philip  Melancthon  (whose  family  name  was  Schwart- 
zerd)  was  born  in  1497.  His  education  was  at  an  early 
age  directed  by  his  maternal  grandfather,  John  Reuter. 
After  a  short  stay  at  a  public  school  at  Bretten  he  was 
removed  to  the  academy  at  Pforzheim.  Here,  under 
the  tutorship  of  John  Reuchlin,  an  elegant  scholar  and 


22  THE   MYSTERY   OF   FRANCIS   BACON. 

teacher  of  languages,  he  acquired  the  taste  for  Greek 
literature  in  which  he  subsequently  became  so  dis- 
tinguished. Here  his  genius  for  composition  asserted 
itself.  Amongst  other  poetical  essays  in  which  he  in- 
dulged when  eleven  years  of  age,  he  wrote  a  humorous 
piece  in  the  form  of  a  comedy,  which  he  dedicated  to 
his  kind  friend  and  instructor,  Reuchlin,  in  whose 
presence  it  was  performed  by  the  schoolfellows  of  the 
youthful  author.  After  a  residence  of  two  years  at 
Pforzheim,  Philip  matriculated  at  the  University  of 
Heidelberg  on  the  i3th  October,  1509,  being  eleven 
years  and  nine  months  old.  Young  as  he  was,  he 
appears  to  have  been  employed  to  compose  most  of  the 
harangues  that  were  delivered  in  the  University,  be- 
sides writing  some  pieces  for  the  professors  themselves. 
Here,  at  this  early  age,  he  composed  his  "  Rudiments 
of  the  Greek  Language,"  which  were  afterwards  pub- 
lished. 

Agrippa  d'Aubigne  was  born  in  1550  and  died  in  1630. 
At  six  years  of  age  he  read  Latin,  Greek,  and  Hebrew. 
When  ten  years  he  translated  the  Crito.  Italian  and 
Spanish  were  at  his  command. 

Thomas  Bodley  was  born  in  1544  and  died  in  1612. 
In  the  short  autobiography  which  he  left  he  makes  the 
following  statement  as  to  how  far  his  education  had 
advanced  when  his  father  decided  to  fix  his  abode  in 
the  city  of  Geneva  in  1556  : — 

"  I  was  at  that  time  of  twelve  yeares  age  but  through  my 
fathers  cost  and  care  sufficiently  instructed  to  become  an 
auditour  of  Chevalerius  in  Hebrew,  of  Berealdus  in  Greeke,  of 
Calvin  and  Beza  in  Divinity  and  of  some  other  Professours  in 
that  University,  (which  was  newly  there  erected)  besides  my 
domesticall  teachers,  in  the  house  of  Philibertus  Saracenus,  a 
famous  Physitian  in  that  City  with  whom  I  was  boarded  ;  when 
Robertas  Constantinus  that  made  the  Greek  Lexicon  read  Homer 
with  me." 

Bodley  was  undoubtedly  proficient   in   French,  for 


FRANCIS   BACON,    1560  TO   1572.  23 

Calvin  and  Beza  lectured  in  French.  The  "  Institu- 
tion of  the  Christian  Religion,"  Calvin's  greatest  work, 
although  published  in  Latin  in  1536,  was  translated  by 
him  into  French,  and  issued  in  1540  or  1541.  This 
translation  is  one  of  the  finest  examples  of  French 
prose.  Bodley's  English  was  probably  very  poor,  and 
for  a  very  good  reason — there  was  no  English  language 
worthy  of  comparison  with  the  languages  of  France, 
Italy,  or  Spain.  It  had  yet  to  be  created. 

It  is  fair  to  assume  that  at  twelve  years  of  age 
Francis  Bacon  was  as  proficient  in  languages  as  were 
Philip  Melancthon,  Agrippa  d'Aubigne,  or  Thomas 
Bodley  at  that  age.  He,  therefore,  had  at  least  a  good 
knowledge  of  Latin,  Greek,  Hebrew,  French,  and  such 
English  as  there  was. 

Another  class  of  evidence  is  now  available.  It  has 
already  been  stated  that  a  large  number  of  Bacon's  books 
have  been  recovered,  copiously  annotated  by  him.  Some 
of  these  books  bear  the  date  when  the  annotations  were 
made.  For  the  most  part  the  marginal  notes  appear  to 
be  aids  to  memory,  but  in  many  cases  they  are  critical 
observations  of  the  text.  These  are,  however,  dealt 
with  in  a  subsequent  chapter. 

Gilbert  Wats,  in  dedicating  to  Charles  I.  his  interpre- 
tation of  "  The  Advancement  of  Proficiency  of  Learn- 
ing" (1640),  makes  a  statement  which  throws  light 
on  the  course  of  Bacon's  studies,  and  this  strongly 
supports  the  present  contention.  He  says  :— 

"  He  (Bacon)  after  he  had  survaied  all  the  Records  of  An- 
tiquity, after  the  volume  of  men,  betook  himselfe  to  the  study  of 
the  volume  of  the  world  ;  and  having  conquerd  whatever  books 
possest,  set  upon  the  Kingdome  of  Nature  and  carried  that 
victory  very  farre." 

Speaking  of  him  as  a  boy  his  biographer*  describes  his 
memory  as  "fixed  and  methodical,"  and  in  another 

0  "The  Lives  of  Statesmen  and  Favourites  of  Elizabeth." 


24  THE    MYSTERY   OF   FRANCIS   BACON. 

place  he  says  "  His  judgment  was  solid  yet  his  memory 
was  a  wonder." 

The  extent  of  his  reading  at  this  time  had  been  very 
wide.  He  had  already  taken  all  knowledge  to  be  his 
province,  and  was  with  that  industry  which  was  beyond 
the  capacity  of  his  contemporaries  rapidly  laying  the 
foundations  which  subsequently  justified  this  claim. 


CHAPTER  IV. 
AT    CAMBRIDGE. 

FRANCIS  BACON  went  to  reside  at  Trinity  College, 
Cambridge,  in  April,  1573,  being  12  years  and  3  months 
of  age.  While  the  plague  raged  he  was  absent  from  the 
end  of  August,  1574,  until  the  beginning  of  March 
following.  He  finally  left  the  University  at  Christmas, 
1575,  about  one  month  before  his  fifteenth  birthday. 

Rawley  says  he  was  there  educated  and  bred  under 
the  tuition  of  Dr.  John  Whitgift,*  then  master  of  the 
College,  afterwards  the  renowned  Archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury, a  prelate  of  the  first  magnitude  for  sanctity,  learn- 
ing, patience,  and  humility;  under  whom  he  was  ob- 
served to  have  been  more  than  an  ordinary  proficient  in 
the  several  arts  and  sciences. 

Amboise,  in  the  "Discourssur  la  vie  de  M.Bacon,"  pre- 
fixed to  the  "Histoire  Naturelle,"  Paris,  1631,  says  :  "  Le 
jugement  et  la  me"moire  nefurentjamais  en  aucun  home 
au  degre  qu'ils  estoient  en  celuy-cy  ;  de  sorte  qu'en  bien 
peu  de  temps  il  se  rendit  fort  habile  en  toutes  les 
sciences  qui  s'apprennent  au  College.  Et  quoi  que 
deslors  il  fust  jug6  capable  des  charges  les  plas  im- 
portantes,  nean-moins  pour  ne  tomber  dedans  la  mesme 
faute  que  sont  d'ordinaireles  jeunes  gens  de  son  estoffe, 
qui  par  une  ambition  trop  pr6cipit6e  portent  souvent  au 
maniement  des  grandes  affaires  un  esprit  encore  tout 
rempli  des  erudites  de  1'escole,  Monsieur  Bacon  se 
voulut  acqu6rir  cette  science,  qui  rendit  autres-fois 
Ulysse  si  recommandable  et  luy  fit  m^riter  le  nom  de 

*  Dr.  Whitgift  was  a  man  of  strong  moral  rectitude,  yet  in 
1593  he  became  one  of  its  sponsors  on  the  publication  of  "  Venus 
and  Adonis." 


26        THE  MYSTERY  OF  FRANCIS  BACON. 

sage,  par  la  connoissance  des  mceurs  de  tant  de  nations 
diverses."  That  is  all  that  can  be  said  about  his  career 
at  Cambridge  except  that  Rawley  adds : 

"  Whilst  he  was  commorant  in  the  University,  about 
sixteen  years  of  age  (as  his  lordship  hath  been  pleased 
to  impart  unto  myself),  he  first  fell  into  the  dislike  of 
the  philosophy  of  Aristotle ;  not  for  the  worthlessness  of 
the  author,  to  whom  he  would  ever  ascribe  all  high 
attributes,  but  for  the  unfruitfulness  of  the  way  ;  being 
a  philosophy  (as  his  lordship  used  to  say)  only  strong 
for  disputations  and  contentions,  but  barren  of  the  pro- 
duction of  works  for  the  benefit  of  the  life  of  man  ;  in 
which  mind  he  continued  to  his  dying  day." 

As  Bacon  left  Cambridge  at  Christmas,  1575,  before 
he  was  15  years  of  age,  Rawley 's  recollection  must  have 
been  at  fault  when  he  mentions  the  age  of  16  as  that 
when  Bacon  formed  this  opinion. 

There  is  another  account  of  this  incident  in  which  it 
is  stated  that  Francis  Bacon  left  Cambridge  without 
taking  a  degree  as  a  protest  against  the  manner  in 
which  philosophy  was  taught  there.  In  the  preface  to 
the  "  Great  Instauration  "  Bacon  repeats  his  protest : 
"And  for  its  value  and  utility,  it  must  be  plainly  avowed 
that  that  wisdom  which  we  have  derived  principally 
from  the  Greeks  is  but  like  the  boyhood  of  knowledge 
and  has  the  characteristic  property  of  boys  :  it  can  talk 
but  it  cannot  generate  :  for  it  is  fruitful  of  controversies 
but  barren  of  works." 

This  is  merely  a  re-statement  of  the  position  he  took 
up  when  at  Cambridge.  So  this  boy  set  up  his  opinion 
against  that  of  the  recognised  professors  of  philosophy 
of  his  day,  against  the  whole  authority  of  the  staff  of 
the  University,  on  a  fundamental  point  on  the  most 
important  question  which  could  be  raised  as  to  the 
pursuit  of  knowledge.  It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that 
he  had  at  this  time  covered  the  whole  field  of  knowledge 


AT    CAMBRIDGE.  27 

in  a  manner  more  thorough  than  it  had  ever  been 
covered  before,  and  with  his  mind,  which  was  beyond 
the  reach  of  his  contemporaries,  he  began  to  lay  down 
those  laws  which  revolutionised  all  thought  and  have 
become  the  accepted  method  by  which  the  pursuit  of 
knowledge  is  followed. 

It  is  necessary  again  to  seek  for  parallels  to  justify  the 
position  which  will  be  claimed  for  Francis  Bacon  at 
this  period. 

Philip  Melancthon  affords  one  and  James  Crichton 
another.  At  Heidelberg  Melancthon  remained  three 
years.  He  left  when  he  was  15,  the  principal  cause  of 
his  leaving  being  disappointment  at  being  refused  a 
higher  degree  in  the  University  solely,  it  is  alleged,  on 
account  of  his  youth.  In  September,  1512,  he  was 
entered  at  the  University  of  Tubingen,  where,  in  the 
following  year,  before  he  was  17  years  of  age,  he  was 
created  Doctor  in  Philosophy  or  Master  of  Arts.  He 
then  commenced  a  course  of  public  lectures,  embracing 
an  extraordinary  variety  of  subjects,  including  the 
learned  languages,  rhetoric,  logic,  ethics,  mathematics, 
and  theology.  Here  in  1516  he  put  forth  his  revision 
of  the  text  of  Terence.  Besides  he  entered  into  an 
undertaking  with  Thomas  Anshelmus  to  revise  all  the 
books  printed  by  him.  He  bestowed  great  labour  on  a 
large  work  in  folio  by  Nauclerus,  which  he  appears  to 
have  almost  entirely  re-written. 

So  much  romance  has  been  thrown  around  James 
Crichton  that  it  is  difficult  to  obain  the  real  facts  of  his 
life.  Sir  Thomas  Urquhart,  in  "  Discovery  of  a  Most 
Exquisite  Jewel,"  published  in  1652,  gives  a  biography 
which  is,  without  doubt,  mainly  apocryphal.  Certain 
facts,  however,  are  well  established.  He  was  born  in 
the  same  year  as  was  Bacon  (1560).  At  10  years  of  age 
he  entered  St.  Andrew's  University,  and  in  1575  (the 
year  Bacon  left  Cambridge)  took  his  degree,  coming 
out  third  in  the  first  class.  In  1576  he  went  to  France, 


28  THE   MYSTERY   OF   FRANCIS   BACON. 

as  did  Bacon — to  Paris.  In  the  College  of  Navarre  he 
issued  a  universal  challenge.  This  he  subsequently 
repeated  at  Venice  with  equal  success  ;  that  is,  to  all 
men,  upon  all  things,  in  any  of  twelve  languages  named. 
The  challenge  is  broad  and  formal.  He  pledged  him- 
self to  review  the  schoolmen,  allowed  his  opponents 
the  privilege  of  selecting  their  topics — mathematics,  no 
less  than  scholastic  lore — either  from  branches  publicly 
or  privately  taught,  and  promised  to  return  answers  in 
logical  figure  or  in  numbers  estimated  according  to 
their  occult  power,  or  in  any  of  a  hundred  sorts  of  verse. 
He  is  said  to  have  justified  before  many  competent 
witnesses  his  magnificent  pretensions. 

What  Philip  Melancthon  was  at  fifteen,  what  James 
Crichton  was  at  sixteen,  Francis  Bacon  may  have  been. 
All  the  testimony  which  his  contemporaries  afford, 
especially  having  regard  to  his  after  life,  justify  the 
assertion  that  in  knowledge  and  acquirements  he  was  at 
least  their  equal. 

About  eighteen  months  later  his  portrait  was  painted 
by  Hilliard,  the  Court  miniature  painter,  who  inscribed 
around  it,  as  James  Spedding  says,  the  significant 
words — the  natural  ejaculation,  we  may  presume,  of  the 
artist's  own  emotion — "  Si  tabula  daretur  digna  animum 
mallem."  If  one  could  only  find  materials  worthy  to 
paint  his  mind. 


CHAPTER  V. 
EARLY     COMPOSITIONS. 

IT  is  at  this  stage  that  the  mystery  of  Francis  Bacon 
begins  to  develop.  Every  channel  through  which  in- 
formation might  be  expected  appears  to  be  blocked. 
Besides  a  few  pamphlets,  in  the  production  of  which 
little  time  would  be  occupied,  there  came  nothing 
from  his  pen  until  1597  when,  at  the  age  of  37,  the  first 
edition  of  the  essays  was  published — only  ten  short 
essays  containing  less  than  6,000  words.  In  1605,  when 
45,  he  addressed  to  James  I.  the  "Two  Books  on  the 
Advancement  of  Learning,"  containing  less  than  60,000 
words.  It  would  require  no  effort  on  Bacon's  part  to 
write  either  of  these  volumes.  He  could  turn  out  the 
"  Two  Books  of  the  Advancement  of  Learning  "  with  the 
same  facility  that  a  leader  writer  of  the  Times  would 
write  his  daily  articles.  He  was  to  all  intents  and  pur- 
poses unoccupied.  Until  1594  he  had  not  held  a  brief, 
and  he  never  had  any  practice  at  the  Bar  worth  con- 
sidering. He  was  a  member  of  Parliament,  but  the 
House  seldom  sat,  and  never  for  long  periods.  Bacon's 
life  is  absolutely  unaccounted  for.  It  is  now  proposed, 
by  the  aid  of  the  literature  of  the  period  from  1576  to 
1620,  and  with  the  help  of  information  derived  from 
his  own  handwriting,  to  trace,  step  by  step,  the  results 
of  his  industry,  and  to  supply  the  reason  for  the  con- 
cealment which  he  pursued. 

There  is  an  entry  in  the  Book  of  Orders  of  Gray's  Inn 
under  date  2ist  November,  1577,  that  Anthony  and 
Francis  Bacon  (who  had  been  admitted  members  27th 
June,  1576,  "  de  societatc  magistrorum  ")  be  admitted  to 
the  Grand  Company,  i.e.,  to  the  Degree  of  Ancients, 


3O  THE   MYSTERY   OF   FRANCIS    BACON. 

a  privilege  to  which  they  were  entitled  as  sons 
of  a  judge.  From  a  letter  subsequently  written 
by  Burghley,  it  is  known  that  one  Barker  was  ap- 
pointed as  their  tutor  of  Law.  Apparently  it  was  in- 
tended that  they  should  settle  down  to  a  course  of  legal 
training,  but  this  plan  was  abandoned,  at  any  rate,  as 
far  as  Francis  was  concerned.  Sir  Amias  Paulet,  who 
was  Chancellor  of  the  Garter,  a  Privy  Counsellor,  and 
held  in  high  esteem  by  the  Queen,*  was  about  to  pro- 
ceed to  Paris  to  take  the  place  of  Dr.  Dale  as  Ambassa- 
dor at  the  Court  of  France.  There  is  a  letter  written 
from  Calais,  dated  25th  September,  1576,  from  Sir 
Amias  to  Lord  Burghley,  in  which  this  paragraph 
appears:  "My  ordinary  train  is  no  greater  than  of 
necessity,  being  augmented  by  some  young  gentlemen, 
whereof  one  is  Sir  Nicholas  Throgmorton's  son,  who  was 
recommended  to  me  by  her  Majesty,  and,  therefore,  I 
could  not  refuse  him.  The  others  are  so  dear  to  me 
and  the  most  part  of  them  of  such  towardness,  as  my 
good  hope  of  their  doing  well,  and  thereafter  they  will 
be  able  to  serve  their  Prince  and  country,  persuades  me 
to  make  so  much  to  excuse  my  folly  as  to  entreat  you  to 
use  your  favour  in  my  allowance  for  my  transportations, 
my  charges  being  increased  by  these  extraordinary 
occasions." 

Francis  Bacon  was  one  of  this  group  of  young  gentle- 
men. Rawley  states  that  "  after  he  had  passed  the  circle 
of  the  liberal  arts,  his  father  thought  fit  to  frame  and 
mould  him  for  the  arts  of  state ;  and  for  that  end  sent 
him  over  into  France  with  Sir  Amyas  Paulet  then 
employed  Ambassador  lieger  into  France." 

There  are  grounds  for  believing  that  Bacon's  literary 
activity  had  commenced  before  he  left  England.  There 
is  abundant  evidence  to  prove  that  it  was  the  custom  at 
this  period  for  authors  who  desired  to  conceal  their 

0  It  was  to  Sir  Amias  that  the  custody  of  Mary  Queen  of  Scots 
was  committed. 


EARLY   COMPOSITIONS.  3! 

authorship  to  substitute  for  their  own  names,  initials  or 
the  names  of  others  on  the  title-pages.  Two  instances 
will  suffice  :  "  The  Arte  of  English  Poesie  "  was  pub- 
lished in  1589,  but  written  several  years  previously. 
The  author  says  : — "  I  know  very  many  notable  Gentle- 
men in  the  Court  that  have  written  commendably,  and 
suppressed  it  agayne,  or  els  suffred  it  to  be  publisht 
without  their  owne  names  to  it  as  if  it  were  a  discredit 
for  a  Gentleman  to  seeme  learned,  and  to  shew  him- 
self amorous  of  any  learned  Art."  There  is  a  bare- 
faced avowal  of  how  names  were  placed  on  title-pages 
in  a  letter  which  exists  from  Henry  Cuffe  to  Mr. 
Reynolds.  Cuffe,  an  Oxford  scholar  of  distinction,  was 
a  close  companion  and  confidant  of  Essex.  After  the 
capture  and  sacking  of  Cadiz  by  Essex  and  Howard,  the 
former  deemed  it  important  that  his  version  of  the  affair 
should  be  the  first  to  be  published  in  England.  Cuffe, 
therefore,  started  off  post  haste  with  the  manuscript,  but 
was  taken  ill  on  his  arrival  at  Portsmouth,  and  could 
not  proceed.  He  despatched  the  manuscript  by  a 
messenger  with  a  letter  to  "  Good  Mr.  Reynoldes,"  who 
was  a  private  Secretary  of  Essex.  He  was  to  cause  a 
transcript  to  be  made  and  have  it  delivered  to  some 
good  printer,  in  good  characters  and  with  diligence  to 
publish  it.  Reynoldes  was  to  confer  with  Mr.  Greville 
(Fulke  Greville,  afterwards  Lord  Brooke)  "  whether  he 
can  be  contented  to  suffer  the  two  first  letters  of  his 
name  to  be  used  in  the  inscription."  "  If  he  be 
unwilling,"  adds  Cuffe,  "you  may  put  R.B.  which 
some  no  doubt  will  interprete  to  be  Beale,  but  it  skills 
not."  That  this  was  a  common  practice  is  admitted 
by  those  acquainted  with  Elizabethan  literature.  If 
any  of  Bacon's  writings  were  published  prior  to  the  trifle 
which  appeared  in  1597  as  Essaies,  his  name  was  sup- 
pressed, and  it  would  be  probable  some  other  name 
would  appear  on  the  title-page.  There  is  a  translation 
of  a  classical  author,  bearing  date  1572,  which  is  in 


32  THE    MYSTERY   OF   FRANCIS    BACON. 

the  Baconian  style,  but  which  need  not  be  claimed  for 
him  without  further  investigation. 

The  following  suggestion  is  put  forward  with  all 
diffidence,  but  after  long  and  careful  investigation. 
Francis  Bacon  was  the  author  of  two  books  which  were 
published,  one  before  he  left  England,  and  the  other 
shortly  after.  The  first  is  a  philosophical  discourse 
entitled  "  The  Anatomie  of  the  Minde."  Newlie  made 
and  set  forth  by  T.R.  Imprinted  at  London  by  I.C.  for 
Andrew  Maunsell,  1576,  I2mo.  The  dedication  is 
addressed  to  Master  Christopher  Hatton,  and  the  name 
of  Tho.  Rogers  is  attached  to  it.  There  was  a  Thomas 
Rogers  who  was  Chaplain  to  Archbishop  Bancroft,  and 
the  book  has  been  attributed  to  him,  apparently  only 
because  no  other  of  the  same  name  was  known. 
There  was  published  in  1577  a  translation  by  Rogers 
of  a  Latin  book  "Of  the  Ende  of  the  World,  etc."  and 
there  are  other  translations  by  him  published  between 
then  and  1628.  There  are  several  sermons,  also,  but 
the  style  of  these,  the  matter,  and  the  manner  of  treat- 
ment are  quite  distinct  from  those  of  the  book  under 
consideration.  There  is  nothing  of  his  which  would 
support  the  assignment  to  him  of  "  The  Anatomie  of 
the  Mind."  It  is  foreign  to  his  style. 

Having  regard  to  the  acknowledged  custom  of  the 
times  of  putting  names  other  than  the  author's  on  title- 
pages,  there  is  no  need  for  any  apology  for  expressing 
doubt  as  to  whether  the  book  has  been  correctly  placed 
to  the  credit  of  the  Bishop  Bancroft's  chaplain.  In  the 
address  To  the  Reader  the  author  says :  "  I  dyd  once  for 
my  profite  in  the  Universitie,  draw  into  Latin  tables, 
which  since  for  thy  profite  (Christian  Reader)  at  the 
request  of  a  gentleman  of  good  credite  and  worship,  I 
have  Englished  and  published  in  these  two  books." 
There  is  in  existence  a  copy  of  the  book  with  the 
printer's  and  other  errors  corrected  in  Bacon's  own 
handwriting. 


EARLY    COMPOSITIONS.  33 

Bearing  date  1577,  imprinted  at  London  for  Henri 
Cockyn,  is  an  octavo  book  styled,  "Beautiful  Blossoms  " 
gathered  by  John  Byshop  from  the  best  trees  of  all  kyndes, 
Divine,  Philosophical^  Astronomical!,  Cosmographical, 
Historical  and  Humane  that  are  growing  in  Greece, 
Latium,  and  Arabia,  and  some  also  in  vulgar  orchards 
as  wel  fro  these  that  in  auncient  time  were  grafted,  as  also 
from  them  which  with  skilful  head  and  hand  beene  of  late 
yeare's,  yea,  and  in  our  dayes  planted  :  to  the  unspeakable, 
both  pleasure  and  profite  of  all  such  as  wil  vouchsafe  to  use 
them.  On  the  title-page  are  the  words,  "  The  First 
Tome,"  but  no  further  volume  was  published.  As  to 
who  or  what  John  Byshop  was  there  is  no  information 
available.  His  name  appears  on  no  other  book.  The 
preface  is  a  gem  of  musical  sounding  words.  It  con- 
tains the  sentence,  "let  them  pass  it  over  and  read  the 
rest  which  are  all  as  plaine  as  Dunstable  Way." 
Bacon's  home  was  within  a  few  miles  of  Dunstable 
Way,  which  was  the  local  term  for  the  main  road. 

It  is  impracticable  here  to  give  at  length  the  grounds 
upon  which  it  is  believed  that  Francis  Bacon  was  the 
author  of  these  two  books.  Each  of  them  is  an  outpour- 
ing of  classical  lore,  and  is  evidently  written  by  some 
young  man  who  had  recently  assimilated  the  writings 
of  nearly  every  classical  author.  In  this  respect  both 
correspond  with  the  manner  of  "  The  French  Academic," 
to  which  the  attention  of  the  reader  will  shortly  be 
directed,  whilst  in  "The  Anatomic  of  the  Minde"  the 
treatment  of  the  subject  is  identical  with  that  in  the 
latter.  Failing  actual  proof,  the  circumstantial  evidence 
that  the  two  books  are  from  the  same  pen  is  almost  as 
strong  as  need  be. 

Some  time  in  October,  1576,  Sir  Amyas  Paulet  would 
reach  Paris,  accompanied  by  Bacon.  The  only  frag- 
ment of  information  which  is  given  by  his  biographers 
of  any  occurrence  during  his  stay  there  is  obtained  from 
Rawley.  He  states  that  "  Sir  Amias  Paulet  after  a 


34         THE  MYSTERY  OF  FRANCIS  BACON. 

while  held  him  fit  to  be  entrusted  with  some  message, 
or  advertisement  to  the  Queen,  which  having  performed 
with  great  approbation,  he  returned  back  into  France 
again  with  intention  to  continue  for  some  years  there." 
In  his  absence  in  France,  his  father,  the  Lord  Keeper, 
died.  This  was  in  February,  1578-9.  If  he  returned 
shortly  after  news  of  his  father's  death  reached  him, 
his  stay  on  the  Continent  would  cover  about  two  and 
a-half  years.  As  to  what  he  was  doing  nothing  is 
known,  but  Pierre  Amboise  states  that  "  France,  Italy, 
and  Spain  as  the  most  civilised  nations  of  the  whole 
world  were  those  whither  his  desire  for  Knowledge 
carried  him." 


35 


CHAPTER  VI. 
BACON'S    "TEMPORIS   PARTUS   MAXIMUS." 

FRANCIS  BACON  was  at  Blois  with  Sir  Amias  Paulet  in 
1577.  In  the  same  year  was  published  the  first  edition 
of  the  first  part  of  "  Academie  Francoise  par  Pierre  de 
la  Primaudaye  Esceuyer,  Seignor  dudict  lieu  et  de  la 
Barrel,  Gentilhomme  ordinaire  de  la  chambre  du  Roy." 
The  dedication,  dated  February,  1577  (i.e.,  1578)  is 
addressed,  "Au  Tres-chrestien  Roy  de  France  et  de 
Polongne  Henry  III.  de  ce  nom."  The  first  English 
translation,  by  T.  B.,  was  "  published  in  1586  *,  im- 
printed at  London  by  Edmund  Bollifant  for  G.  Bishop 
and  Ralph  Newbery."  Other  parts  of  "  The  Academy  " 
followed  at  intervals  of  years,  but  the  first  and  only 
complete  edition  in  English  bears  date  1618,  and  was 
printed  for  Thomas  Adams.  Over  the  dedication  is 
the  well-known  archer  emblem.  It  is  a  thick  folio 
volume,  with  1,038  pages  double  columns.  It  may  be 

0  In  the  "Gesta  Grayorum  "  one  of  the  articles  which  the 
Knights  of  the  Helmet  were  required  to  vow  to  keep,  each 
kissing  his  helmet  as  he  took  his  vow,  was  "  Item — every  Knight 
of  this  Order  shall  endeavour  to  add  conference  and  experiment 
to  reading  ;  and  therefore  shall  not  only  read  and  peruse  '  Guizo,' 
'The  French  Academy,'  'Galiatto  the  Courtier,'  '  Plutarch,'  '  The 
Arcadia,'  and  the  Neoterical  writers  from  time  to  time,"  etc. 
The  "Gesta  Grayorum,"  which  was  written  in  1594,  was  not 
published  until  1687.  The  manuscript  was  probably  incorrectly 
read  as  to  the  titles  of  the  books.  "Galiatto,"  apparently,  should 
be  '•  Galateo,"  described  in  a  letter  of  Gabriel  Harvey  as  "The 
Italian  Archbishop  brave  Galateo.''  The  "Courtier"  is  the 
Italian  work  by  Castiglione  which  was  Englished  by  Sir  Thomas 
Hoby.  "  Guizo  "  should  be  "  Guazzo."  Stef.ino  Guazzo's  "  Civil 
Conversation" — four  books  —  was  Englished  by  G.  Pettie  and 
Young. 


36         THE  MYSTERY  OF  FRANCIS  BACON. 

termed  the  first  Encyclopaedia  which  appeared  in  any 
language,  and  is,  perhaps,  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
productions  of  the  Elizabethan  era.  Little  is  known 
of  Pierre  de  la  Primaudaye.  The  particulars  for  his 
biography  in  the  "Biographic  Nationale "  seem  to 
have  been  taken  from  references  made  to  the  author 
in  the  "  French  Academic "  itself.  In  the  French 
Edition,  1580,  there  is  a  portrait  of  a  man,  and  under 
it  the  words  "Anag.  de  L'auth.  Par  la  priere  Dieu 
m'ayde."  The  following  is  an  extract  from  the  dedica- 
tion : — 

"  The  dinner  of  that  prince  of  famous  memorie,  was  a  second 
table  of  Salomon,  vnto  which  resorted  from  euerie  nation  such  as 
were  best  learned,  that  they  might  reape  profit  arid  instruction. 
Yours,  Sir,  being  compassed  about  with  those,  who  in  your 
presence  daily  discourse  of,  and  heare  discoursed  many  graue 
and  goodly  matters,  seemeth  to  be  a  schoole  erected  to  teach  men 
that  are  borne  to  vertue.  And  for  myselfe,  hauing  so  good  hap 
during  the  assemblie  of  your  Estates  at  Blois,  as  to  be  made 
partaker  of  the  fruit  gathered  thereof,  it  came  in  my  mind  to 
offer  vnto  your  Maiestie  a  dish  of  diuers  fruits,  which  I  gathered 
in  a  Platonicall  garden  or  orchard,  otherwise  called  an  ACADEMIE, 
where  I  was  not  long  since  with  certaine  yoong  Gentlemen  of 
Aniou  my  companions,  discoursing  togither  of  the  institution  in 
good  maners,  and  of  the  means  how  all  estates  and  conditions 
may  Hue  well  and  happily.  And  although  a  thousand  thoughts 
came  then  into  my  mind  to  hinder  my  purpose,  as  the  small 
authoritie,  which  youth  may  or  ought  to  haue  in  counsell  amongst 
ancient  men  :  the  greatnes  of  the  matter  subject,  propounded  to 
be  handled  by  yeeres  of  so  small  experience  ;  the  forgetf ulness  of 
the  best  foundations  of  their  discourses,  which  for  want  of  a  rich 
and  happie  memorie  might  be  in  me  :  my  Judgement  not  sound 
ynough,  and  my  profession  vnfit  to  set  them  downe  in  good 
order  :  briefly,  the  consideration  of  your  naturall  disposition  and 
rare  vertue,  and  of  the  learning  which  you  receiuve  both  by  reading 
good  authors,  and  by  your  familiar  communication  with  learned 
and  great  personages  that  are  neere  about  your  Maiestie  (whereby 
I  seemed  to  oppose  the  light  of  an  obscure  day,  full  of  clouds 
and  darkness,  to  the  bright  beames  of  a  very  cleere  shining 
sonne,  and  to  take  in  hand,  as  we  say,  to  teach  Minerua).  I  say 


BACON'S    "TEMPORIS   PARTUS   MAXIMUS."  37 

all  these  reasons  being  but  of  too  great  weight  to  make  me 
change  my  opinion,  yet  calling  to  mind  manic  goodlie  and  graue 
sentences  taken  out  of  sundry  Greeke  and  Latine  Philosophers, 
as  also  the  woorthie  examples  of  the  Hues  of  ancient  Sages  and 
famous  men,  wherewith  these  discourses  were  inriched,  which 
might  in  delighting  your  noble  mind  renew  your  memorie  with 
those  notable  sayings  in  the  praise  of  vertue  and  dispraise  of  vice, 
which  you  alwaies  loued  to  heare  :  and  considering  also  that  the 
bounty  of  Artaxerxes  that  great  Monarke  of  the  Persians  was 
reuiued  in  you,  who  receiued  with  a  cheerfull  countenance  a 
present  of  water  of  a  poore  laborer,  when  he  had  no  need  of  it, 
thinking  to  be  as  great  an  act  of  magnanimitie  to  take  in  good 
part,  and  to  receiue  cheerfully  small  presents  offered  with  a 
hartie  and  good  affection,  as  to  giue  great  things  liberally,  I 
ouercame  whatsoeuer  would  haue  staied  me  in  mine  enterprise." 

It  appears,  therefore,  that  the  author  by  good  hap  was 
a  visitor  at  the  Court  of  Henry  III.  when  at  Blois  ; 
that  he  was  there  studying  with  certain  young  gentlemen 
of  Anjou,  his  companions;  that  he  was  a  youth,  and  of 
years  of  small  experience ;  that  his  memory  might  not 
be  sufficiently  rich  and  happy,  his  judgment  not  enough, 
and  his  profession  unfit  in  recording  the  discourses  of 
himself  and  his  companions. 

"The  Author  to  the  Reader"  is  an  essay  on  Philo- 
sophy, every  sentence  in  which  seems  to  have  the  same 
familiar  sound  as  essays  which  subsequently  appeared 
under  another  name.  The  contents  of  the  several 
chapters  are  enumerated  thus  :  "  Of  Man,"  "  Of  the 
Body  and  Soule,"  etc. 

The  first  chapter  contains  a  description  of  how  the 
"  Academic  "  came  about.  An  ancient  wise  gentleman 
of  great  calling  having  spent  the  greater  part  of  his 
years  in  the  service  of  two  kings,  and  of  his  country, 
France,  for  many  and  good  causes  had  withdrawn  him- 
self to  his  house.  He  thought  that  to  content  his  mind, 
which  always  delighted  in  honest  and  vertuous  things, 
he  could  not  bring  greater  profit  to  the  Monarchic  of 
France,  than  to  lay  open  and  preserve  and  keep  youth 


38       THE  MYSTERY  OF  FRANCIS  BACON. 

from  the  corruption  which  resulted  from  the  over  great 
license  and  excessive  liberty  granted  to  them  in  the 
Universities.  He  took  unto  his  house  four  young 
gentlemen,  with  the  consent  of  their  parents  who  were 
distinguished  noblemen.  After  he  had  shown  these 
young  men  the  first  grounds  of  true  wisdom,  and  of  all 
necessary  things  for  their  salvation,  he  brought  into  his 
house  a  tutor  of  great  learning  and  well  reported  of  his 
good  life  and  conversation,  to  whom  he  committed  their 
instruction.  After  teaching  them  the  Latin  tongue  and 
some  smattering  of  Greek  he  propounded  for  their  chief 
studies  the  moral  philosophy  of  ancient  sages  and  wise 
men,  together  with  the  understanding  and  searching 
out  of  histories  which  are  the  light  of  life.  The  four 
fathers,  desiring  to  see  what  progress  their  sons  had 
made,  decided  to  visit  them.  And  because  they  had 
small  skill  in  the  Latin  tongue,  they  determined  to  have 
their  children  discourse  in  their  own  natural  tongue  of 
all  matters  that  might  serve  for  the  instruction  and 
reformation  of  every  estate  and  calling,  in  such  order 
and  method  as  they  and  their  master  might  think  best. 
It  was  arranged  that  they  should  meet  in  a  walking 
place  covered  over  with  a  goodly  green  arbour,  and 
daily,  except  Sundays,  for  three  weeks,  devote  two  hours 
in  the  morning  and  two  hours  after  dinner  to  these 
discourses,  the  fathers  being  in  attendance  to  listen  to 
their  sons.  So  interesting  did  these  discussions  become 
that  the  period  was  often  extended  to  three  or  four 
hours,  and  the  young  men  were  so  intent  upon  prepara- 
tion for  them  that  they  would  not  only  bestow  the  rest 
of  the  days,  but  oftentimes  the  whole  night,  upon  the 
well  studying  of  that  which  they  proposed  to  handle. 
The  author  goes  on  to  say  : — "  During  which  time  it 
was  my  good  hap  to  be  one  of  the  companie  when  they 
began  their  discourses,  at  which  I  so  greatly  wondered 
that  I  thought  them  worthy  to  be  published  abroad." 
From  this  it  would  appear  that  the  author  was  a  visitor, 


BACON'S   "TEMPORIS   PARTUS    MAXIMUS."  3Q 

privileged,  with  the  four  fathers  and  the  master,  to  listen 
to  the  discourses  of  these  four  young  men.  But,  a  little 
further  on  the  position  is  changed ;  one  of  the  four 
young  men  is,  without  any  explanation,  ignored,  and 
his  father  disappointed  !  For  the  author  takes  his  place, 
as  will  be  seen  from  the  following  extract : — 

"  And  thus  all  fower  of  us  followed  the  same  order  daily  until 
everie  one  in  his  course  had  intreated  according  to  appointment, 
both  by  the  precepts  of  doctrine,  as  also  by  the  examples  of  the 
lives  of  ancient  Sages  and  famous  men,  of  all  things  necessary 
for  the  institution  of  manners  and  happie  life  of  all  estates  and 
callings  in  this  French  Monarchic.  But  because  I  knowe  not 
whether,  in  naming  my  companions  by  their  proper  names, 
supposing  thereby  to  honour  them  as  indeede  they  deserve  it,  I 
should  displease  them  (which  thing  I  would  not  so  much  as 
thinke)  I  have  determined  to  do  as  they  that  play  on  a  Theaten 
who  under  borrowed  maskes  and  disguised  apparell,  do  repre- 
sent the  true  personages  of  those  whom  they  have  undertaken  to 
bring  on  the  stage.  I  will  therefore  call  them  by  names  very 
agreeable  to  their  skill  and  nature  :  the  first  ASER  which  sig- 
nifieth  Felicity  :  the  second  AMANA  which  is  as  much  to  say 
as  Truth  :  the  third  ARAM  which  noteth  to  us  Highness ;  and  to 
agree  with  them  as  well  in  name  as  in  education  and  behaviour. 
I  will  name  myself  ACHITOB*  which  is  all  one  with  Brother  of 
goodness.  Further  more  I  will  call  and  honour  the  proceeding 
and  finishing  of  our  sundry  treatises  and  discourses  with  this 
goodlie  and  excellent  title  of  Academic,  which  was  the  ancient 
and  renowned  school  amongst  the  Greek  Philosophers,  who  were 
the  first  that  were  esteemed,  and  that  the  place  where  Plato, 
Xenophon,  Poleman,  Xenocrates,  and  many  other  excellent  per- 
sonages, afterward  called  Academicks,  did  propound  &  discourse 
of  all  things  meet  for  the  instruction  and  teaching  of  wisdome  : 
wherein  we  purposed  to  followe  them  to  our  power,  as  the 
sequele  of  our  discourses  shall  make  good  proofe." 

And  then  the  discourses  commence. 
"  Love's  Labour's  Lost "  was  published  in  1598,  and 
was  the  first  quarto  upon  which  the  name  of  Shakespere 

0  "  Hit "  is  used  by  Chaucer  as  the  past  participle  of  "  Hide." 
The  name  thus  yields  a  suggestive  anagram,  "  Bacohit." 


40        THE  MYSTERY  OF  FRANCIS  BACON. 

was  printed.  The  title-page  states  that  it  is  "  newly 
corrected  and  augmented,"  from  which  it  may  be  inferred 
that  there  was  a  previous  edition,  but  no  copy  of  such  is 
known.  The  commentators  are  in  practical  agreement 
that  it  was  probably  the  first  play  written  by  the 
dramatist. 

There  are  differences  of  opinion  as  to  the  probable  date 
when  it  was  written.  Richard  Grant  White  believes  this 
to  be  not  later  than  1588,  Knight  gives  1589,  but  all  this 
is  conjecture. 

The  play  opens  with  a  speech  by  Ferdinand  : — 

"  Let  Fame  that  all  hunt  after  in  their  lives, 
Live  registred  upon  our  brazen  Tombes, 
And  then  grace  us,  in  the  disgrace  of  death  : 
When  spight  of  cormorant  devouring  time, 
Th'  endevour  of  this  present  breath  may  buy  : 
That  honour  which  shall  bate  his  sythes  kcene  edge, 
And  make  us  heyres  of  all  eternitie. 
Therefore  brave  Conquerours,  for  so  you  are, 
That  warre  against  your  own  affections, 
And  the  huge  Armie  of  the  worlds  desires. 
Our  late  Edict  shall  strongly  stand  in  force, 
Navar  shall  be  the  wonder  of  the  world. 
Our  Court  shall  be  a  little  Achademe, 
Still  and  contemplative  in  living  Art. 
You  three,  Berowne,  Doumaine,  and  Longavill, 
Have  sworne  for  three  yeeres  terme,  to  live  with  me, 
My  fellow  Schollers,  and  to  keepe  those  statutes 
That  are  recorded  in  this  schedule  heere. 
Your  oathes  are  past,  and  now  subscribe  your  names  ; 
That  his  owne  hand  may  strike  his  honour  downe, 
That  violates  the  smallest  branch  heerein  : 
If  you  are  arm'd  to  doe,  as  sworne  to  do, 
Subscribe  to  your  deepe  oathes,  and  keepe  it  to." 

Four  young  men  in  the  French  "Academie"  asso- 
ciated together,  as  in  "Love's  Labour  Lost,"  to  war 
against  their  own  affections  and  the  whole  army  of  the 
world's  desires.  Dumaine,  in  giving  his  acquiescence  to 
Ferdinand,  ends : — 


BACON'S    "TEMPORIS   PARTUS   MAXIMUS."  4! 

"To  love, to  wealth,  to  pompe,  I  pine  and  die 
With  all  these  living  in  Philosophic." 

Philosophie  was  the  subject  of  study  of  the  four  young 
men  to  the  "  Academic." 
Berowne  was  a  visitor,  for  he  says  : — 

"  I  only  swore  to  study  with  your  grace 
And  stay  heere  in  your  Court  for  three  yecres'  space.1' 

Upon  his  demurring  to  subscribe  to  the  oath  as  drawn, 
Ferdinand  retorts  :— 

Well,  sit  you  out :  go  home,  Berowne  :  adue." 
To  which  Berowne  replies : — 

No,  my  good  lord  ;  I  have  sworn  to  stay  with  you." 

Achitob  was  a  visitor  at  the  Academic  in  France. 
There  are  other  points  of  resemblance,  but  sufficient  has 
been  said  to  warrant  consideration  of  the  suggestion 
that  the  French  "Academie"  contains  the  serious 
studies  of  the  four  young  men  whose  experiences  form 
the  subject  of  the  play. 

The  parallels  between  passages  in  the  Shakespeare 
plays  and  the  French  "  Academie  "  are  numerous,  but 
they  form  no  part  of  the  present  contention. 

One  of  these  may,  however,  be  mentioned.  In  the 
third  Tome  the  following  passage  occurs  *  :— 

Psal.  xix.  :  "  It  is  not  without  cause  that  the  Prophet  said  (The 
heavens  declare  the  glory  of  God,  and  the  earth  sheweth  the 
workes  of  his  handes)  For  thereby  he  evidently  leacheth,  as  with 
the  finger  even  to  our  eies,  the  great  and  admirable  providence 
of  God  their  Creator  ;  even  as  if  the  heavens  should  speakc  to 
anyone.  In  another  place  it  is  written  (Eccles.  xliii.) :  (This  high 
ornament,  this  cleere  firmament,  the  beauty  of  the  heaven  so 
glorious  to  behold,  tis  a  thing  full  of  Majesty)." 

On  turning  to  the  revised  version  of  the  Bible  it  will 
be  found  that  the  first  verse  is  thus  translated:  "The 

*  1618  Edition,  page  712. 


42        THE  MYSTERY  OF  FRANCIS  BACON. 

pride  of  the  height,  the  cleare  firmament  the  beauty  of 
heaven  with  his  glorious  shew."  The  rendering  of  the 
text  in  "  The  French  Academy  "  is  strongly  suggestive 
of  Hamlet's  famous  soliloquy.  "  This  most  excellent 
canopy,  this  brave  o'erhanging  firmament,  this  majes- 
tical  roof  fritted  with  golden  fire,  why  it  appears  to  me 
no  other  than  a  foul  and  pestilent  congregation  of 
vapours."  The  author  has  forsaken  the  common-place 
rendering  of  the  Apocrypha,  and  has  adopted  the  same 
declamatory  style  which  Shakespeare  uses.  It  is  strongly 
reminiscent  of  Hamlet's  famous  speech,  Act  II.,  scene  ii. 

Only  one  of  the  Shakespeare  commentators  makes 
any  reference  to  the  work.  The  Rev.  Joseph  Hunter, 
writing  in  1844,  points  out  that  the  dramatist  in  "  As 
You  Like  It,"  describing  the  seven  ages  of  man,  follows 
the  division  made  in  the  chapter  on  "The  Ages  of 
Man  "  in  the  "  Academie."  * 

The  suggestion  now  made  is  that  the  French 
"Academie"  was  written  by  Bacon,  who  is  repre- 
sented in  the  dialogues  as  Achitob — the  first  part  when 
he  was  about  18  years  of  age,  that  he  continued  it 
until,  in  1618,  the  complete  work  was  published.  In  the 
dedication  the  author  describes  himself  as  a  youth  of 

*  In  addition  to  this  and  to  the  "  Gesta  Grayorum  "  (1692)  I  have 
only  been  able  to  find  two  references  to  "  The  French  Academy  " 
in  the  works  of  English  writers. 

J.  Payne  Collier,  in  his  "  Poetical  Decameron,"  Vol.  II.,  page 
271,  draws  attention  to  the  epistle  "to  the  Christian  reader  "  pre- 
fixed to  the  second  part,  and  suggests  that  the  initials  T.B.  which 
occur  at  the  end  of  the  dedicatory  epistle  stand  for  Thomas 
Beard,  the  author  of  "Theatre  of  God's  Judgments."  Collier 
does  not  appear  to  have  read  "The  French  Academy."  Dibdin, 
in  "  Notes  on  More's  Utopia,"  says,  "But  I  entreat  the  reader  to 
examine  (if  he  be  fortunate  enough  to  possess  the  book)  "  The 
French  Academy  of  Primaudaye,"  a  work  written  in  a  style  of 
peculiarly  impressive  eloquence,  and  which,  not  very  improb- 
ably, was  the  foundation  of  Derham's  and  Paley's  "Natural 
Theology." 


BACON'S    "TEMPORIS   PARTUS   MAXIMUS."  43 

immature  experience,  but  the  contents  bear  evidence  of 
a  wide  knowledge  of  classical  authors  and  their  works, 
a  close  acquaintance  with  the  ancient  philosophies, 
and  a  store  of  general  information  which  it  would  be 
impossible  for  any  ordinary  youth  of  such  an  age  to 
possess.  But  was  not  the  boy  who  at  15  years  of  age 
left  Cambridge  disagreeing  with  the  teaching  there  of 
Aristotle's  philosophy,  and  whose  mental  qualities  and 
acquirements  provoked  as  "the  natural  ejaculation  of 
the  artist's  emotion  "  the  significant  words,  "  Si  tabula 
daretur  digna  animum  mallem,"  altogether  abnormal? 

Was  the  "  French  Academic  "  Bacon's  temporis  partus 
maxintus  ?  It  is  only  in  a  letter  written  to  Father 
Fulgentio  about  1625  that  this  work  is  heard  of.  Bacon 
writes :  "  Equidem  memini  me,  quadraginta  abhinc 
annis,  juvenile  opusculum  circa  has  res  confecisse,  quod 
magna  prorsus  fiducia  et  magnifico  titulo  'Temporis 
Partum  Maximum  '  inscripsi."  * 

Spedding  says:  "This  was  probably  the  work  of 
which  Henry  Cuffe  (the  great  Oxford  scholar  who  was 
executed  in  1601  as  one  of  the  chief  accomplices  in  the 
Earl  of  Essex's  treason)  was  speaking  when  he  said  that 
'  a  fool  could  not  have  written  it  and  a  wise  man  would 
not.'  Bacon's  intimacy  with  Essex  had  begun  about 
thirty-five  years  before  this  letter  was  written." 

Forty  years  from  1625  would  carry  back  to  1585,  the 
year  preceding  the  date  of  publication  of  the  first 
edition  in  English.  If  Cuffe's  remark  was  intended  to 
apply  to  the  "French  Academy,"  it  is  just  such  a 
criticism  as  the  book  might  be  expected  to  provoke. 

The  first  edition  of  "  The  French  Academic "  in 
English  appeared  in  1586,  the  second  in  1589,  the  third 
(two  parts)  in  1594,  the  fourth  (three  parts)  in  1602, 
the  fifth  in  1614  (all  quartos),  then,  in  1618,  the  large 

0  "  It  being  now  forty  years  as  I  remember,  since  I  composed 
a  juvenile  work  on  this  subject  which  with  great  confidence  and 
a  magnificent  title  I  named  "  The  greatest  birth  of  Time.'' 


44  THE   MYSTERY   OF   FRANCIS   BACON. 

folio  edition  containing  the  fourth  part  "never  before 
published  in  English."  It  appears  to  have  been  more 
popular  in  England  than  it  was  in  France.  Brunet  in 
his  1838  edition  mentions  neither  the  book  nor  the 
author,  Primaudaye.  The  question  as  to  whether  there 
was  at  this  time  a  reading  public  in  England  sufficiently 
wide  to  absorb  an  edition  in  numbers  large  enough  to 
make  the  publication  of  this  and  similar  works  possible 
at  a  profit  will  be  dealt  with  hereafter.  In  anticipation 
it  may  be  said  that  the  balance  of  probabilities  justifies 
the  conjecture  that  the  issue  of  each  of  these  editions 
involved  someone  in  loss,  and  the  folio  edition  involved 
considerable  loss. 

A  comparison  between  the  French  and  English 
publications  points  to  both  having  been  written  by 
an  author  who  was  a  master  of  each  language  rather 
than  that  the  latter  was  a  mere  translation  of  the 
former.  The  version  is  so  natural  in  idiom  and  style 
that  it  appears  to  be  an  original  rather  than  a  transla- 
tion. In  1586  how  many  men  were  there  who  could 
write  such  English  ?  The  marginal  notes  are  in  the 
exact  style  of  Bacon.  "A  similitude" — "A  notable 
comparison  " — occur  frequently  just  as  the  writer  finds 
them  again  and  again  in  Bacon's  handwriting  in 
volumes  which  he  possesses.  The  book  abounds  in 
statements,  phrases,  and  quotations  which  are  to  be 
found  in  Bacon's  letters  and  works. 

One  significant  fact  must  be  mentioned.  The  first 
letter  of  the  text  in  the  dedication  in  the  first  English 
translation  is  the  letter  S.  It  is  printed  from  a  wood 
block  (Fig.  I.).  Thirty-nine  years  after  (in  1625)  when 
the  last  edition  of  Bacon's  Essays — and,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  the  small  pamphlet  containing  his  versifica- 
tion of  certain  Psalms,  the  last  publication  during  his 
life — was  printed,  that  identical  wood  block  (Fig.  II.) 
was  again  used  to  print  the  first  letter  in  the  dedication 
of  that  book.  Every  defect  and  peculiarity  in  the  one 


45 


Fig.  I. 

The  first  letter  in  the  text  of  the  dedication  of  the  1st  edition 
of  the  English  translation  of  the  "French  Academie,"  1586, 
Printed  at  London  by  G.  Bollifant.  The  block  is  also  used  in  a 
similar  manner  in  the  2nd  edition,  1589.  Londini  Impensis, 
John  Bishop. 


Fig.  II. 

The  first  letter  in   the  text  of    the   dedication  of    the  1625 
edition  of  Bacon's  Essaye,  printed  in  London,  by  John  Haviland. 


Both  letters  were,  printed  from  the  same  block. 


46        THE  MYSTERY  OF  FRANCIS  BACON. 

will  be  found  in  the  other.  A  search  through  many 
hundreds  of  books  printed  during  these  thirty-nine 
years — 1586  to  1625 — has  failed  to  find  it  used  else- 
where, except  on  one  occasion,  either  then,  before,  or 
since. 

Did  Bacon  mark  his  first  work  on  philosophy  and 
his  last  book  by  printing  the  first  letter  in  each  from 
the  same  block  ?  * 


0  The  block  was  used  on  page  626  of  the  1594  quarto  edition 
of  William  Camden's  "  Britannia/'  published  in  London  by 
George  Bishop,  who  was  the  publisher  of  the  1586,  1589,  and 
1594  editions  of  "The  French  Academy."  There  is  a  marginal 
note  at  the  foot  of  the  imprint  of  the  block  commencing  "  R. 
Bacons."  Francis  Bacon  is  known  to  have  assisted  Camden  in 
the  preparation  of  this  work.  The  manuscript  bears  evidence 
of  the  fact  in  his  handwriting. 


47 


CHAPTER  VII. 
BACON'S    FIRST    ALLEGORICAL    ROMANCE. 

THERE  is  another  work  which  it  is  impossible  not  to 
associate  with  this  period,  and  that  is  John  Barclay's 
"Argenis."  It  is  little  better  known  than  is  "The 
French  Academy,"  and  yet  Cowper  pronounced  it  the 
most  amusing  romance  ever  written.  Cardinal  Richelieu 
is  said  to  have  been  extremely  fond  of  reading  it,  and 
to  have  derived  thence  many  of  his  political  maxims. 
It  is  an  allegorical  novel.  It  is  proposed  now  only  to 
mention  some  evidence  connected  with  the  "Argenis" 
which  supports  the  contention  that  the  1625  English 
edition  contains  the  original  composition,  and  that  its 
author  was  young  Francis  Bacon. 

The  first  edition  of  the  "Argenis"  in  Latin  was 
published  in  1621.  The  authority  to  the  publisher, 
Nicholas  Buon,  to  print  and  sell  the  "Argenis"  is 
dated  the  2ist  July,  1621,  and  was  signed  by  Barclay 
at  Rome.  The  Royal  authority  is  dated  on  the  3ist 
August  following. 

Barclay's  death  took  place  between  these  dates,  on 
the  I2th  of  August,  at  Rome.  It  is  reported  that  the 
cause  of  death  was  stone,  but  in  an  appreciation  of  him, 
published  by  his  friend,  Ralph  Thorie,  his  death  is 
attributed  to  poison. 

The  work  is  an  example  of  the  highest  type  of 
Latinity.  So  impressed  was  Cowper  with  its  style  that 
he  stated  that  it  would  not  have  dishonoured  Tacitus 
himself.  A  translation  in  Spanish  was  published  in 
1624,  and  in  Italian  in  1629.  The  Latin  version  was 
frequently  reprinted  during  the  seventeenth  and 
eighteenth  centuries — perhaps  more  frequently  than 
any  other  book. 


48  THE   MYSTERY   OF   FRANCIS   BACON. 

In  a  letter  dated  nth  May,  1622,  Chamberlain, 
writing  to  Carleton,  says :  "  The  King  has  ordered 
Ben  Jonson  to  translate  the  '  Argenis,'  but  he  will  not 
be  able  to  equal  the  original."  On  the  2nd  October, 
1623,  Ben  Jonson  entered  a  translation  in  Stationers' 
Hall,  but  it  was  never  published.  About  that  time 
there  was  a  fire  in  Jonson's  house,  in  which  it  is  said 
some  manuscripts  were  destroyed  ;  but  it  is  a  pure 
assumption  that  the  "  Argenis  "  was  one  of  these. 

In  1629  an  English  translation  appeared  by  Sir 
Robert  Le  Grys,  Knight,  and  the  verses  by  Thomas 
May,  Esquire.  The  title-page  bears  the  statement  : 
"  The  prose  upon  his  Majesty's  command."  There  is 
a  Clavis  appended,  also  stated  to  be  "published  at  his 
Majesties  command."  It  was  printed  by  Felix  Kyng- 
ston  for  Richard  Mughten  and  Henry  Seile.  In  the 
address  to  "  The  understanding  Reader "  Le  Grys 
says,  "What  then  should  I  say?  Except  it  were  to 
entreate  thee,  that  where  my  English  phrase  doth  not 
please  thee,  thou  wilt  compare  it  with  the  originall 
Latin  and  mend  it.  Which  I  doe  not  speak  as  think- 
ing it  impossible,  but  as  willing  to  have  it  done,  for  the 
saving  me  a  labour,  who,  if  his  Majesty  had  not  so  much 
hastened  the  publishing  it,  would  have  reformed  some 
things  in  it,  that  did  not  give  myselfe  very  full  satisfac- 
tion." 

In  1622  King  James  ordered  a  translation  of  the 
"Argenis."  In  1629*  Charles  I.  was  so  impatient  to 
have  a  translation  that  he  hastened  the  publication,  thus 
preventing  the  translator  from  revising  his  work.  Three 
years  previously,  however,  in  1625 — if  the  date  may  be 
relied  on — there  was  published  as  printed  by  G.  P. 
for  Henry  Seile  a  translation  by  Kingesmill  Long. 
James  died  on  the  25th  March,  1625.  The  "Argenis" 
may  not  have  been  published  in  his  lifetime  ;  but  if  the 

0  One  copy  of  this  edition  bears  the  date  1628. 


BACON'S  FIRST  ALLEGORICAL  ROMANCE.         49 

date  be  correct,  three  or  four  years  before  Charles 
hastened  the  publication  of  Le  Grys's  translation,  this 
far  superior  one  with  Kingesmill  Long's  name  attached 
to  it  could  have  been  obtained  from  H.  Seile.  Surely 
the  publisher  would  have  satisfied  the  King's  impatience 
by  supplying  him  with  a  copy  of  the  1625  edition  had  it 
been  on  sale.  The  publication  of  a  translation  of  the 
"  Argenis  "  must  have  attracted  attention.  Is  it  possible 
that  it  could  have  been  in  existence  and  not  brought  to 
the  notice  of  the  King  ?  There  is  something  here  that 
requires  explanation.  The  Epistle  Dedicatorie  of  the 
1625  edition  is  written  in  the  familiar  style  of  another 
pen,  although  it  bears  the  name  of  Kingesmill  Long. 
The  title-page  states  that  it  is  "  faithfully  translated 
out  of  Latine  into  English,"  but  it  is  not  directly 
in  the  Epistle  Dedicatorie  spoken  of  as  a  translation. 
The  following  extract  implies  that  the  work  had 
been  lying  for  years  waiting  publication : — 

"  This  rude  piece,  such  as  it  is,  hath  long  lyen  by  me,  since  it 
was  finished  ;  I  not  thinking  it  worthy  to  see  the  light.  I  had 
always  a  desire  and  hope  to  have  it  undertaken  by  a  more  able 
workman,  that  our  Nation  might  not  be  deprived  of  the  use  of  so 
excellent  a  Story :  But  finding  none  in  so  long  time  to  have 
done  it  ;  and  knowing  that  it  spake  not  English,  though  it 
were  a  rich  Jewell  to  the  learned  Linguist,  yet  it  was  close  lockt 
from  all  those,  to  whom  education  had  not  given  more  languages, 
than  Nature  Tongues  :  I  have  adventured  to  become  the  key  to 
this  piece  of  hidden  Treasure,  and  have  suffered  myselfe  to  be 
overruled  by  some  of  my  worthy  friends,  whose  judgements  I 
have  alwayes  esteemed,  sending  it  abroad  (though  coursely  done) 
for  the  delight  and  use  of  others.1' 

Not  a  word  about  the  author !  The  translations, 
said  to  be  by  Thomas  May,  of  the  Latin  verses  in  the 
1629  are  identical  with  those  in  the  1625  edition, 
although  Kingesmill  Long,  on  the  title-page,  appears 
as  the  translator.  Nothing  can  be  learnt  as  to  who  or 
what  Long  was. 


5O        THE  MYSTERY  OF  FRANCIS  BACON. 

Over  lines  "Authori,"  signed  Ovv :  Fell:*  in  the 
1625  edition  is  one  of  the  well-known  light  and  dark  A 
devices.  This  work  is  written  in  flowing  and  majestic 
English ;  the  1629  edition  in  the  cramped  style  of 
translation. 

The  copy  bearing  date  1628,  to  which  reference  has 
been  made,  belonged  to  John  Henry  Shorthouse.  He 
has  made  this  note  on  the  front  page  :  "  Jno.  Barclay's 
description  of  himself  under  the  person  of  Nico- 
pompus  Argenis,  p.  60."  This  is  the  description  to 
which  he  alludes  : — 

"  Him  thus  boldly  talking,  Nicopompus  could  no  longer 
endure  :  he  was  a  man  who  from  his  infancy  loved  Learning  ; 
but  who  disdaining  to  be  nothing  but  a  booke-man  had  left  the 
schooles  very  young,  that  in  the  courts  ot  Kings  and  Princes,  he 
might  serve  his  apprenticeship  in  publicke  affairs  ;  so  he  grew 
there  with  an  equall  abilitie.  both  in  learning  and  imployment, 
his  descent  and  disposition  fitting  him  for  that  kind  of  life  :  wel 
esteemed  of  many  Princes,  and  especially  of  Meleander,  whose 
cause  together  with  the  rest  of  the  Princes,  he  had  taken  upon 
him  to  defend." 

This  description  is  inaccurate  as  applied  to  John 
Barclay,  but  in  every  detail  it  describes  Francis  Bacon. 

A  comparison  has  been  made  between  the  editions  of 
1625  and  1629  with  the  1621  Latin  edition.  It  leaves 
little  room  for  doubting  that  the  1625  is  the  original 
work.  Throughout  the  Latin  appears  to  follow  it 
rather  than  to  be  the  leader ;  whilst  the  1629 
edition  follows  the  Latin  closely.  In  some  cases  the 
word  used  in  the  1625  edition  has  been  incorrectly 
translated  into  the  1621  edition,  and  the  Latin  word  re- 
translated literally  and  incorrectly  in  view  of  the  sense 
in  the  1629  edition.  But  space  forbids  this  comparison 
being  further  followed  ;  suffice  it  to  say  that  everything 
points  to  the  1625  edition  being  the  original  work. 

As  to  the  date  of  composition  much  may  be  said ; 

0  Probably  Owen  Felltham,  author  of  "  Felltham's  Resolves." 


BACON'S  FIRST  ALLEGORICAL  ROMANCE.          51 

but  the  present  contention  is  that  "  The  French 
Academic,"  "The  Argenis,"  and  "  Love's  Labour's  Lost " 
are  productions  from  the  same  pen,  and  that  they  all 
represent  the  work  of  Francis  Bacon  probably  between 
the  years  1577  and  1580.  At  any  rate,  the  first-named 
was  written  whilst  he  was  in  France,  and  the  others 
were  founded  on  the  incidents  and  experience  obtained 
during  his  sojourn  there. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 
BACON    IN    FRANCE,    1576—1579. 

THIS  brilliant  young  scholar  landed  with  Sir  Amias 
Paulet  at  Calais  on  the  25th  of  September,  1576,  and 
with  him  went  straight  to  the  Court  of  Henry  III. 
of  France.  It  is  remarkable  that  neither  Montagu, 
Spedding,  Hepworth  Dixon,  nor  any  other  biographer 
seems  to  have  thought  it  worth  while  to  consider  under 
what  influences  he  was  brought  when  he  arrived  there 
at  the  most  impressionable  period  of  his  life.  Hepworth 
Dixon,  without  stating  his  authority,  says  that  he 
"quits  the  galleries  of  the  Louvre  and  St.  Cloud  with 
his  morals  pure,"  but  nothing  more.  And  yet  Francis 
Bacon  arrived  in  France  at  the  most  momentous  epoch 
in  the  history  of  French  literature.  This  boy,  with 
his  marvellous  intellect  —  the  same  intellect  which 
nearly  half  a  century  later  produced  the  "  Novum 
Organum  " — with  a  memory  saturated  with  the  records 
of  antiquity  and  with  the  writings  of  the  classical 
authors,  with  an  industry  beyond  the  capacity  and  a 
mind  beyond  the  reach  of  his  contemporaries,  skilled  in 
the  teachings  of  the  philosophers,  with  independence  of 
thought  and  a  courage  which  enabled  him  to  condemn 
the  methods  of  study  followed  at  the  University  where 
he  had  spent  three  years;  this  boy  who  had  a  "beam 
of  knowledge  derived  from  God"  upon  him,  who  "had 
not  his  knowledge  from  books,  but  from  some  grounds 
and  notions  from  himself,"  and  above  and  beyond  all 
who  was  conscious  of  his  powers  and  had  unbounded 
confidence  in  his  capacity  for  using  them;  this  boy 
walked  beside  the  English  Ambassador  elect  into  the 
highest  circles  of  French  Society  at  the  time  when  the 


BACON   IN   FRANCE,    1576 — I57Q.  53 

most  important  factors  of  influence  were  Ronsard  and 
his  confreres  of  the  Pl6iade.  He  had  left  behind  him  in 
his  native  country  a  language  crude  aud  almost  bar- 
baric, incapable  of  giving  expression  to  the  knowledge 
which  he  possessed  and  the  thoughts  which  resulted 
therefrom. 

At  this  time  there  were  few  books  written  in  the 
English  tongue  which  could  make  any  pretence  to  be 
considered  literature:  Sir  Thomas  Eliot's  "The 
Governor,"  Robert  Ascham's  "The  Schoolmaster," 
and  Thomas  Wright's  "Arts  of  Rhetoric,"  almost 
exhaust  the  list.  Thynne's  edition,  1532,  and  Lidgate's 
edition,  1561,  of  Chaucer's  works  are  not  intelligible. 
Only  in  the  1598  edition  can  the  great  poet  be  read  with 
any  understanding.  The  work  of  re-casting  the  poems 
for  this  edition  was  Bacon's,  and  he  is  the  man  referred 
to  in  the  following  lines,  which  are  prefixed  to  it : — 

The  Reader  to  Geffrey  Chaucer. 

Rea. — Where  hast  thou  dwelt,  good  Geffrey  al  this  while, 

Unknown  to  us  save  only  by  thy  bookes  ? 
Chan. — In  haulks,  and  hernes,  God  wot,  and  in  exile, 

Where  none  vouchsaft  to  yeeld  me  words  or  lookes  : 
Till  one  which  saw  me  there,  and  knew  my  friends, 
Did  bring  me  forth  :  such  grace  sometimes  God  sends. 
Rea. — But  who  is  he  that  hath  thy  books  repar'd, 

And  added  moe,  whereby  thou  are  more  graced  ? 
Chan. — The  selfe  same  man  who  hath  no  labor  spar'd, 
To  helpe  what  time  and  writers  had  defaced  : 
And  made  old  words,  which  were  unknoun  of  many, 
So  plaine,  that  now  they  may  be  knoun  of  any. 
Rca. — Well  fare  his  heart :  I  love  him  for  thy  sake, 

Who  for  thy  sake  hath  taken  all  this  pains. 
Chau. — Would  God  I  knew  some  means  amends  to  make, 
That  for  his  toile  he  might  receive  some  gains. 
But  wot  ye  what  ?     I  know  his  kindnesse  such, 
That  for  my  good  he  thinks  no  pains  too  much  : 
And  more  than  that ;  if  he  had  knoune  in  time, 
He  would  have  left  no  fault  in  prose  nor  rime. 


54  THE  MYSTERY  OF  FRANCIS   BACON. 

There  is  a  catalogue  of  the  library  of  Sir  Thomas 
Smith*  on  August  i,  1566,  in  his  gallery  at  Hillhall.  It 
was  said  to  contain  nearly  a  thousand  books.  Of  these 
only  five  were  written  in  the  English  language.  Under 
Theologici,  K.  Henry  VIII.  book  ;  under  Juris  Civilis, 
Littleton's  Tenures,  an  old  abridgement  of  Statutes  ; 
under  Historiographi,  Hall's  Chronicles,  and  Fabian's 
Chronicles  and  The  Decades  of  P.  Martyr ;  under 
Mathematica,  The  Art  of  Navigation.  The  remainder 
are  in  Greek,  Latin,  French,  and  Italian.  Burghley's 
biographer  states  that  Burghley  "  never  read  any  books 
or  praiers  but  in  Latin,  French,  or  Italian,  very  seldom 
in  Englishe." 

At  this  time  Francis  Bacon  thought  in  Latin,  for  his 
mother  tongue  was  wholly  insufficient.  There  is  abun- 
dant proof  of  this  in  his  own  handwriting.  Under 
existing  conditions  there  could  be  no  English  literature 
worthy  of  the  name.  If  a  Gentleman  of  the  Court 
wrote  he  either  suppressed  his  writings  or  suffered 
them  to  be  published  without  his  name  to  them,  as  it 
was  a  discredit  for  a  gentleman  to  seem  learned  and  to 
show  himself  amorous  of  any  good  art.  Here  is  where 
Spedding  missed  his  way  and  never  recovered  himself. 
Deep  as  is  the  debt  of  gratitude  due  to  him  for  his 
devoted  labours  in  the  preparation  of  "  Bacon's  Life 
and  Letters"  and  in  the  edition  of  his  works,  it  must  be 
asserted  that  he  accomplished  this  work  without  seeing 
Francis  Bacon.  There  was  a  vista  before  young 
Bacon's  eyes  from  which  the  practice  of  the  law  and 
civil  dignities  were  absent.  He  arrived  at  the  French 
Court  at  the  psychological  moment  when  an  object- 
lesson  met  his  eyes  which  had  a  more  far-reaching  effect 

0  Sir  Thomas  Smith  (1512 — 1577)  was  Secretary  of  State  under 
Edward  VI.  and  Elizabeth — a  good  scholar  and  philosopher.  He, 
when  Greek  lecturer  and  orator  at  Cambridge,  with  John  Cheke, 
introduced,  in  spite  of  strong  opposition,  the  correct  way  of 
speaking  Greek,  restoring  the  pronunciation  of  the  ancients. 


BACON   IN   FRANCE,    1576—1579.  55 

on  the  language  and  literature  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race 
than  any  or  all  other  influences  that  have  conspired  to 
raise  them  to  the  proud  position  which  to-day  they 
occupy.  It  is  necessary  briefly  to  explain  the  position 
of  the  French  language  and  literature  at  this  juncture. 

The  French  Renaissance  of  literature  had  its  beginning 
in  the  early  years  of  the  sixteenth  century.  It  had  been 
preceded  by  that  of  Italy,  which  opened  in  the  fourteenth 
century,  and  reached  its  limit  with  Ariosto  and  Tasso, 
Macchiavelli  and  Guicciardini  during  the  sixteenth 
century.  Towards  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century 
modern  French  poetry  may  be  said  to  have  had  its 
origin  in  Villon  and  French  prose  in  Comines.  The 
style  of  the  former  was  artificial  and  his  poems  abounded 
in  recurrent  rhymes  and  refrains.  The  latter  had 
peculiarities  of  diction  which  were  only  compensated 
for  by  weight  of  thought  and  simplicity  of  expression. 
Clement  Marot,  who  followed,  stands  out  as  one  of  the 
first  landmarks  in  the  French  Renaissance.  His  grace- 
ful style,  free  from  stiffness  and  monotony,  earned  for 
him  a  popularity  which  even  the  brilliancy  of  the 
Pl6iade  did  not  extinguish,  for  he  continued  to  be  read 
with  genuine  admiration  for  nearly  two  centuries.  He 
was  the  founder  of  a  school  of  which  Mellia  de  St. 
Gelais,  the  introducer  of  the  sonnet  into  France,  was 
the  most  important  member.  Rabelais  and  his  followers 
concurrently  effected  a  complete  revolution  in  fiction. 
Marguerite  of  Navarre,  who  is  principally  known  as  the 
author  of  "The  Heptameron,"  maintained  a  literary 
Court  in  which  the  most  celebrated  men  of  the  time 
held  high  place.  It  was  not  until  the  middle  of  the 
sixteenth  century  that  the  great  movement  took  place 
in  French  literature  which,  if  that  which  occurred  in 
the  same  country  three  hundred  years  subsequently  be 
excepted,  is  without  parallel  in  literary  history. 

The  Pleiade  consisted  of  a  group  of  seven  men  and 
boys  who,  animated  by  a  sincere  and  intelligent  love  of 


56        THE  MYSTERY  OF  FRANCIS  BACON. 

their  native  language,  banded  themselves  together  to  re- 
model it  and  its  literary  forms  on  the  methods  of  the 
two  great  classical  tongues,  and  to  reinforce  it  with  new 
words  from  them.  They  were  not  actuated  by  any  desire 
for  gain.  In  1549  Jean  Daurat,  then  49  years  of  age,  was 
professor  of  Greek  at  le  College  de  Coqueret  in  Paris. 
Amongst  those  who  attended  his  classes  were  five 
enthusiastic,  ambitious  youths  whose  ages  varied  from 
seventeen  to  twenty-four.  They  were  Pierre  de  Ronsard, 
Joachim  du  Bellay,  Remy  Belleau,  Antoine  de  Bai'f, 
and  Etienne  Jodelle.  They  and  their  Professor  asso- 
ciated themselves  together  and  received  as  a  colleague 
Pontus  de  Tyard,  who  was  twenty-eight.  They  formed 
a  band  of  seven  renovators,  to  whom  their  countrymen 
applied  the  cognomen  of  the  Pleiade,  by  which  they  will 
ever  be  known.  Realising  the  defects  and  possibilities 
of  their  language,  they  recognised  that  by  appropriations 
from  the  Greek  and  Latin  languages,  and  from  the 
melodious  forms  of  the  Italian  poetry,  they  might 
reform  its  defects  and  develop  its  possibilities  so  com- 
pletely that  they  could  place  at  the  service  of  great 
writers  a  vehicle  for  expression  which  would  be  the 
peer  if  not  the  superior  of  any  language,  classical  or 
modern.  It  was  a  bold  project  for  young  men,  some  of 
whom  were  not  out  of  their  teens,  to  venture  on.  That 
they  met  with  great  success  is  beyond  question  ;  the 
extent  of  that  success  it  is  not  necessary  to  discuss  here. 
The  main  point  to  be  emphasised  is  that  it  was  a 
deliberate  scheme,  originated,  directed,  and  matured  by 
a  group  of  little  more  than  boys.  The  French  Renais- 
sance was  not  the  result  of  a  spontaneous  bursting  out 
on  all  sides  of  genius.  It  was  wrought  out  with  sheer 
hard  work,  entailing  the  mastering  of  foreign  languages, 
and  accompanied  by  devotion  and  without  hope  of 
pecuniary  gain.  The  manifesto  of  the  young  band  was 
written  by  Joachim  de  Bellay  in  1549,  an^  was  entitled, 
"La  Defense  et  Illustration  de  la  langue  Francaise." 


BACON  IN  FRANCE,  1576 — 1579.          57 

In  the  following  year  appeared  Ronsard's  Ode  —  the 
first  example  of  the  new  method.  Pierre  de  Ronsard 
entered  Court  life  when  ten  years  old.  In  attendance 
on  French  Ambassadors  he  visited  Scotland  and 
England,  where  he  remained  for  some  time.  A  severe 
illness  resulted  in  permanent  deafness  and  compelled 
him  to  abandon  his  profession,  when  he  turned  to 
literature.  Although  Du  Bellay  was  the  originator  of 
the  scheme,  Ronsard  became  the  director  and  the 
acknowledged  leader  of  the  band.  His  accomplish- 
ments place  him  in  the  first  rank  of  the  poets  of  the 
world.  Reference  would  be  out  of  place  here  to  the 
movement  which  was  after  his  death  directed  by  Mal- 
herbe  against  Ronsard's  reputation  and  fame  as  a  poet 
and  his  eventual  restoration  by  the  disciples  of  Sainte 
Beuve  and  the  followers  of  Hugo.  It  is  desirable,  how- 
ever, to  allude  to  other  great  Frenchmen  whose  labours 
contributed  in  other  directions  to  promote  the  growth 
of  French  literature.  Jean  Calvin,  a  native  of  Noyon, 
in  Picardy,  had  published  in  Latin,  in  1536,  when  only 
twenty-seven  years  of  age,  his  greatest  work,  both  from 
a  literary  and  theological  point  of  view,  "  The  Institu- 
tion of  the  Christian  Religion,"  which  would  be 
accepted  as  the  product  of  full  maturity  of  intellect 
rather  than  the  firstfruits  of  the  career  of  a  youth. 
What  the  Pleiade  had  done  to  create  a  French  language 
adequate  for  the  highest  expression  of  poetry  Calvin 
did  to  enable  facility  in  argument  and  discussion.  A 
Latin  scholar  of  the  highest  order,  avoiding  in  his 
compositions  a  tendency  to  declamation,  he  developed 
a  stateliness  of  phrase  which  was  marked  by  clearness 
and  simplicity.  Theodore  Beza,  historian,  translator, 
and  dramatist,  was  another  contributor  to  the  literature 
of  this  period.  Jacques  Amyot  had  commenced  his  trans- 
lations from  "  Ethiopica,"  treating  of  the  royal  and 
chaste  loves  of  Theagenes  and  Chariclea  three  years 
before  Du  Bellay's  manifesto  appeared.  Montaigne, 


58  THE   MYSTERY   OF   FRANCIS   BACON. 

referring  to  his  translation  of  Plutarch,  accorded  to 
him  the  palm  over  all  French  writers,  not  only  for  the 
simplicity  and  purity  of  his  vocabulary,  in  which  he 
surpassed  all  others,  but  for  his  industry  and  depth  of 
learning.  In  another  field  Michel  Eyquem  Sieur  de  Mon- 
taigne had  arisen.  His  moral  essays  found  a  counter- 
part in  the  biographical  essays  of  the  Abbe  de  Bran- 
tome.  Agrippa  D'Aubigne,  prose  writer,  historian,  and 
poet ;  Guillaume  de  Saluste  du  Bartas,  the  Protestant 
Ronsard  whose  works  were  more  largely  translated 
into  English  than  those  of  any  other  French  writer  ; 
Philippes  Desportes  and  others  might  be  mentioned  as 
forming  part  of  that  brilliant  circle  of  writers  who  had 
during  a  comparatively  short  period  helped  to  achieve 
such  a  high  position  for  the  language  and  literature  of 
France. 

In  1576,  when  Francis  Bacon  arrived  in  France,  the 
fame  of  the  Pleiade  was  at  its  zenith.  Du  Bellay  and 
Jodelle  were  dead,  but  the  fruit  of  their  labours  and  of 
those  of  their  colleagues  was  evoking  the  admiration  of 
their  countrymen.  The  popularity  of  Ronsard,  the 
prince  of  poets  and  the  poet  of  princes,  was  without 
precedent.  It  is  said  that  the  King  had  placed  beside 
his  throne  a  state  chair  for  Ronsard  to  occupy.  Poets 
and  men  of  letters  were  held  in  high  esteem  by  their 
countrymen.  In  England,  for  a  gentleman  to  be 
amorous  of  any  learned  art  was  held  to  be  discreditable, 
and  any  proclivities  in  this  direction  had  to  be  hidden 
under  assumed  names  or  the  names  of  others.  In 
France  it  was  held  to  be  discreditable  for  a  gentleman 
not  to  be  amorous  of  the  learned  arts.  The  young  men 
of  the  Pleiade  were  all  of  good  family,  and  all  came 
from  cultured  homes.  Marguerite  of  Navarre  had  set 
the  example  of  attracting  poets  and  writers  to  her 
Court  and  according  honours  to  them  on  account  of 
their  achievements.  The  kings  of  France  had  adopted 


BACON    IN    FRANCE,    1576 — I57Q.  59 

a  similar  attitude.  During  the  same  period  in  England 
Henry  VIII.,  Mary,  and  Elizabeth  had  been  following 
other  courses.  They  had  given  no  encouragement  to 
the  pursuit  of  literature.  Notwithstanding  the  repeti- 
tion by  historians  of  the  assertion  that  the  good  Queen 
Bess  was  a  munificent  patron  of  men  of  letters,  litera- 
ture flourished  in  her  reign  in  spite  of  her  action  and 
not  by  its  aid. 

Bacon  implies  this  in  the  opening  sentences  of  the 
second  book  of  the  "Advancement  of  Learning."  He 
speaks  of  Queen  Elizabeth  as  being  "a  sojourner  in 
the  world  in  respect  of  her  unmarried  life,  rather  than 
an  inhabitant.  She  hath  indeed  adorned  her  own  time 
and  many  waies  enricht  it ;  but  in  truth  to  Your 
Majesty,  whom  God  hath  blest  with  so  much  Royall 
issue  worthy  to  perpetuate  you  for  ever  ;  whose  youth- 
full  and  fruitfull  Bed,  doth  yet  promise  more  children ; 
it  is  very  proper,  not  only  to  iradiate  as  you  doe  your 
own  times,  but  also  to  extend  your  Cares  to  those  Acts 
which  succeeding  Ages  may  cherish,  and  Eternity  itself 
behold  :  Amongst  which,  if  my  affection  to  learning 
doe  not  transport  me,  there  is  none  more  worthy,  or 
more  noble,  than  the  endowment  of  the  world  with 
sound  and  fruitfull  Advancement  of  Learning :  For 
why  should  we  erect  unto  ourselves  some  few  authors, 
to  stand  like  Hercules  Columnes  beyond  which  there 
should  be  no  discovery  of  knowledge,  seeing  we  have 
your  Majesty  as  a  bright  and  benigne  starre  to  conduct 
and  prosper  us  in  this  Navigation."  As  Elizabeth  had 
been  unfruitful  in  her  body,  and  James  fruitful,  so  had 
she  been  unfruitful  in  encouraging  the  Advancement  of 
Learning,  but  the  appeal  is  made  to  James  that  he, 
being  blessed  with  a  considerable  issue,  should  also 
have  an  issue  by  the  endowment  of  Learning. 

What  must  have  been  the  effect  on  the  mind  of  this 
brilliant  young  Englishman,  Francis  Bacon,  when  he 
entered  into  this  literary  atmosphere  so  different  from 


6O  THE    MYSTERY   OF   FRANCIS   BACON. 

that  of  the  Court  which  he  had  left  behind  him  ?  There 
was  hardly  a  classical  writer  whose  works  he  had  not 
read  and  re-read.  He  was  familiar  with  the  teachings 
of  the  schoolmen  ;  imbued  with  a  deep  religious  spirit, 
he  had  mastered  the  principles  of  their  faiths  and  the 
subtleties  of  their  disputations.  The  intricacies  of  the 
known  systems  of  philosophies  had  been  laid  bare  before 
his  penetrating  intellect.  With  the  mysteries  of  mathe- 
matics and  numbers  he  was  familiar.  What  had  been 
discovered  in  astronomy,  alchemy  and  astrology  he  had 
absorbed ;  however  technical  might  be  a  subject,  he  had 
mastered  its  details.  In  architecture  the  works  of  Vit- 
ruvius  had  been  not  merely  read  but  criticised  with  the 
skill  of  an  expert.  Medicine,  surgery — every  subject — 
he  had  made  himself  master  of.  In  fact,  when  he 
asserted  that  he  had  taken  all  knowledge  to  be  his  pro- 
vince he  spoke  advisedly  and  with  a  basis  of  truth  which 
has  never  until  now  been  recognised.  The  youth  of  17 
who  possessed  the  intellect,  the  brain  and  the  memory 
which  jointly  produced  the  "  Novum  Organum,"  whose 
mind  was  so  abnormal  that  the  artist  painting  his  port- 
rait was  impelled  to  place  round  it  "  the  significant 
words,"  "si  tabula  daretur  digna,  animum mallem"  who 
had  taken  all  knowledge  to  be  his  province,  was  capable 
of  any  achievement  of  the  Admirable  Crichton.  And  this 
youth  it  was  who  in  1576  passed  from  a  country  of  liter- 
ary and  intellectual  torpor  into  the  brilliancy  of  the 
companionship  of  Pierre  de  Ronsard  and  his  associates. 
It  is  one  of  the  most  stupendous  factors  in  his  life. 
Something  happened  to  him  before  his  return  to  Eng- 
land which  affected  the  whole  of  his  future  life.  It  may 
be  considered  a  wild  assertion  to  make,  but  the  time  will 
come  when  its  truth  will  be  proved,  that  "  The  Anatomie 
of  the  Minde,"  "Beautiful  Blossoms,"  and  "  The  French 
Academy,"  are  the  product  of  one  mind,  and  that  same 
mind  produced  the  "  Arte  of  English  Poesie,"  "An 
Apology  for  Poetrie,"  by  Sir  John  Harrington,  and  "  The 


BACON  IN  FRANCE,  1576 — 1579-         6l 

Defense  of  Poetry,"  by  Sir  Philip  Sydney.  The  former 
three  were  written  before  1578  and  place  the  philosopher 
before  the  poet ;  the  latter  three  were  written  after  1580 
and  place  the  poet — the  creator — before  the  philosopher. 
Francis  Bacon  had  recognised  that  the  highest  achieve- 
ment was  the  act  of  creation.  Henceforth  he  lived  to 
create. 

Sir  Nicholas  Bacon  died  on  or  about  the  I7th  of 
February,  1578 — 9.  How  or  where  this  news  reached 
Francis  is  not  recorded,  but  on  the  2Oth  of  the  following 
March  he  left  Paris  for  England,  after  a  stay  of  two  and 
a-half  years  on  the  Continent.  He  brought  with  him  to 
the  Queen  a  despatch  from  Sir  Amias  Paulet,  in  which 
he  was  spoken  of  as  being  "  of  great  hope,  endued  with 
many  and  singular  parts,"  and  one  who,  "  if  God  gave 
him  life,  would  prove  a  very  able  and  sufficient  subject 
to  do  her  Highness  good  and  acceptable  service."  * 


*  State  Paper  Office  ;  French  Correspondence. 


62 


CHAPTER  IX. 

BACON'S    SUIT    ON    HIS   RETURN  TO 
ENGLAND,    1580. 

SPEDDING  states  that  the  earliest  composition  of  Bacon 
which  he  had  been  able  to  discover  is  a  letter  written  in 
his  2oth  year  from  Grays  Inn.  From  that  time  for- 
ward, he  continues,  compositions  succeed  each  other 
without  any  considerable  interval,  and  in  following  them 
we  shall  accompany  him  step  by  step  through  his  life. 
What  are  the  compositions  which  Spedding  places  as  be- 
ing written  but  not  published  up  to  the  year  1597,  when 
the  first  small  volume  of  10  essays  containing  less  than 
6,000  words  was  issued  from  the  press?  These  are 
they : — 

Notes  on  the  State  of  Christendom  *  (date  1580  to 

1584). 

Letter  of  Advice  to  the  Queen  (1584 — 1586). 

An  Advertisement  touching  the  Controversies  of  the 
Church  of  England  (1586 — 1589). 

Speeches  written  for  some  Court  device,  namely,  Mr. 
Bacon  in  praise  of  Knowledge,  and  Mr.  Bacon's  dis- 
course in  praise  of  his  Sovereign  (1590 — 1592). 

Certain  observations  made  upon  a  libel  published  this 
present  year,  1592. 

A  true  report  of  the  Detestable  Treason  intended  by 
Dr.  Roderigo  Lopez,  1594. 

Gesta  Grayorum,  1594,  parts  of  which  are  printed  by 
Spedding  in  type  denoting  doubtful  authorship. 

Bacon's  device,  1594 — 1598. 

*  Spedding  prints  this  in  small  type,  being  doubtful  as  to  the 
authorship. 


BACON'S  SUIT,  ETC.  63 

Three  letters  to  the  Earl  of  Rutland  on  his  travels, 
I595—I596. 

That  is  all !  These  are  the  compositions  which  fol- 
low each  other  without  considerable  interval,  and  by 
which  we  are  to  accompany  him  step  by  step  through 
those  seventeen  years  which  should  be  the  most  impor- 
tant years  in  a  man's  life  !  He  could  have  turned  them 
out  in  ten  days  or  a  fortnight  with  ease.  We  expect 
from  Mr.  Spedding  bread,  and  he  gives  us  a  stone  ! 

This  brilliant  young  man,  who,  when  15  years  of  age, 
left  Cambridge,  having  possessed  himself  of  all  the  know- 
ledge it  could  afford  to  a  student,  who  had  travelled  in 
France,  Spain  and  Italy  to  "  polish  his  mind  and  mould 
his  opinion  by  intercourse  with  all  kinds  of  foreigners," 
how  was  he  occupying  himself  during  what  should  be 
the  most  fruitful  years  of  his  life  ?  Following  his 
profession  at  the  Bar  ?  His  affections  did  not  that  way 
tend.  Spedding  expresses  the  opinion  that  he  had  a 
distaste  for  his  profession,  and,  writing  of  the  circum- 
stances with  which  he  was  surrounded  in  1592,  says  : 
"I  do  not  find  that  he  was  getting  into  practice. 
His  main  object  still  was  to  find  ways  and  means  for 
prosecuting  his  great  philosophical  enterprise."  What 
was  this  enterprise?  "I  confess  that  I  have  as  vast 
contemplative  ends  as  I  have  moderate  means,"  he  says, 
writing  to  Burghley,  "for  I  have  taken  all  knowledge 
to  be  my  province."  This  means  more  than  mere 
academic  philosophy. 

In  1593,  when  Bacon  was  put  forward  and  upheld 
for  a  year  as  a  candidate  for  the  post  of  Attorney- 
General,  Spedding  writes  of  him;  "  He  had  had  little 
or  no  practice  in  the  Courts ;  what  proof  he  had 
given  of  professional  proficiency  was  confined  to  his 
readings  and  exercises  in  Grays  Inn.  .  .  .  Law, 
far  from  being  his  only,  was  not  even  his  favourite 
study  ;  .  .  .  his  head  was  full  of  ideas  so  new  and 


64        THE  MYSTERY  OF  FRANCIS  BACON. 

large  that  to  most  about  him  they  must  have  seemed 
visionary." 

Writing  of  him  in  1594  Spedding  says  :  "The 
strongest  point  against  Bacon's  pretensions  for  the 
Attorneyship  was  his  want  of  practice.  His  opponents 
said  that  '  he  had  never  entered  the  place  of  battle.'  * 
Whether  this  was  because  he  could  not  find  clients  or 
did  not  seek  them  I  cannot  say."  In  order  to  meet 
the  objection,  Bacon  on  the  25th  January,  1593 — 4, 
made  his  first  pleading,  and  Burghley  sent  his  secretary 
"  to  congratulate  unto  him  the  first  fruits  of  his  public 
practice." 

There  is  one  other  misconception  to  be  corrected.  It 
is  urged  that  Bacon  was,  during  this  period,  engrossed 
in  Parliamentary  life.  From  1584  to  1597  five  Parlia- 
ments were  summoned.  Bacon  sat  in  each.  In  his 
twenty-fifth  year  he  was  elected  member  for  Melcombe, 
in  Dorsetshire.  In  the  Parliament  of  1586  he  sat  for 
Taunton,  in  that  of  1588  for  Liverpool,  in  that  of  1592-3 
for  Middlesex,  and  in  1597  for  Ipswich. 

But  the  sittings  of  these  Parliaments  were  not  of  long 
duration,  and  the  speeches  which  he  delivered  and  the 
meetings  of  committees  upon  which  he  was  appointed 
would  absorb  but  a  small  portion  of  his  time.  It  must 
be  patent,  therefore,  that  Spedding  does  not  account 
for  his  occupations  from  his  return  to  England  in  1578 
until  1597,  when  the  first  small  volume  of  his  Essays 
was  published. 

During  the  whole  of  this  period  Bacon  was  in 
monetary  difficulties,  and  yet  there  is  no  evidence  that 
he  was  living  a  life  of  dissipation  or  even  of  extrava- 
gance. On  the  contrary,  all  testimony  would  point 
to  the  conclusion  that  he  was  following  the  path  of  a 
strictly  moral  and  studious  young  man.  On  his  return 
to  England  he  took  lodgings  in  Coney  Court,  Grays 

:;:  That  is,  never  held  a  brief. 


BACON'S  SUIT,  ETC.  65 

Inn.    There  Anthony  found  him  when  he  returned  from 
abroad. 

There  are  no  data  upon  which  to  form  any  reliable 
opinion  as  to  the  amount  of  his  income  at  this  time. 
Rawley  states  that  Sir  Nicholas  Bacon  had  collected  a 
considerable  sum  of  money  which  he  had  separated 
with  intention  to  have  made  a  competent  purchase  of 
land  for  the  livelihood  of  his  youngest  son,  but  the 
purchase  being  unaccomplished  at  his  death,  Francis 
received  only  a  fifth  portion  of  the  money  dividable,  by 
which  means  he  lived  in  some  straits  and  necessities  in 
his  younger  years.  It  is  not  clear  whether  the  "  money 
dividable  "  was  only  that  separated  by  Sir  Nicholas,  or 
whether  he  left  other  sums  which  went  to  augment 
the  fund  divisible  amongst  the  brothers.  His  other 
children  were  well  provided  for.  Francis  was  not, 
however,  without  income.  Sir  Nicholas  had  left  certain 
manors,  etc.,  in  Herts  to  his  sons  Anthony  and  Francis 
in  tail  male,  remainder  to  himself  and  his  heirs.  Lady 
Ann  Bacon  had  vested  an  estate  called  Markes,  in 
Essex,  in  Francis,  and  there  is  a  letter,  dated  i6th 
April,  1593,  from  Anthony  to  his  mother  urging  her  to 
concur  in  its  sale,  so  that  the  proceeds  might  be  applied 
to  the  relief  of  his  brother's  financial  position.* 

•  I  am  indebted  to  Mr.  Harold  Hardy  for  this  interesting  in- 
formation. There  is  an  entry  in  the  State  Papers,  1608,  Jan.  31  : 
Grant  at  the  suit  of  Sir  Francis  Bacon  to  Sir  William  Cooke,  Sir 
John  Constable,  and  three  others,  of  the  King's  reversion  of  the 
estates  in  Herts  above  referred  to.  Sir  Nicholas,  to  whom  it  had 
descended  from  the  Lord  Keeper,  conveyed  the  remainder  to 
Queen  Elizabeth  her  heirs  and  successors  "with  the  condition 
that  if  he  paid  ^100  the  grant  should  be  void,  which  was 
apparently  done  to  prevent  the  said  Sir  Francis  to  dispose  of 
the  same  land  which  otherwise  by  law  he  might  have  done." 
When  Lady  Anne  conveyed  the  Markes  estate  to  Francis  it  was 
subject  to  a  similar  condition,  namely,  that  the  grant  was  to  be 
null  and  void  on  Lady  Ann  paying  ten  shillings  to  Francis.  This 
condition  made  it  impossible  for  Francis  to  dispose  of  his  interest 


66  THE   MYSTERY   OF   FRANCIS   BACON. 

Lady  Bacon  lived  at  Gorhambury.  She  was  not  ex- 
travagant, and  yet  in  1589  she  was  so  impoverished  that 
Captain  Allen,  in  writing  to  Anthony,  speaking  of  his 
mother,  Lady  Bacon,  says  she  "  also  saith  her  jewels  be 
spent  for  you,  and  that  she  borrowed  the  last  money  of 
seven  several  persons."  Whatever  her  resources  were, 
they  had  by  then  been  exhausted  for  her  sons.  Anthony 
was  apparently  a  man  of  considerable  means.  He  was 
master  of  the  manor  and  priory  of  Redburn,  of  the 
manor  of  Abbotsbury,  Minchinbury  and  Hores,  in  the 
parish  of  Barley,  in  the  county  of  Hertford  ;  of  the 
Brightfirth  wood,  Merydan-meads,  and  Pinner-Stoke 
farms,  in  the  county  of  Middlesex.* 

But  within  a  few  years  after  his  return  to  England 
Anthony  was  borrowing  money  wherever  he  could. 
Mother  and  brother  appear  to  have  exhausted  their 
resources  and  their  borrowing  capabilities.  There  is 
an  account  showing  that  in  eighteen  months,  about 
1593,  Anthony  lent  Francis  £373,  equivalent  to  nearly 
£3,000  at  to-day's  value.  In  1597  Francis  was  arrested 
by  the  sheriff  for  a  debt  of  £300,  for  which  a  money- 
lender had  obtained  judgment  against  him,  and  he  was 
cast  into  the  Tower.  Where  had  all  the  money  gone  ? 
There  is  no  adequate  explanation. 


The  first  letter  of  Francis  Bacon's  which  Spedding 
met  with,  to  which  reference  has  already  been  made, 
is  dated  nth  July,  1580,  to  Mr.  Doylie,  and  is  of  little 
importance.  The  six  letters  which  follow — all  there 

in  the  estate,  hence  Anthony's  request  in  the  letter  above  referred 
to.  It  is  obvious  that  his  relatives  considered  that  Francis  was 
not  to  be  trusted  with  property  whicli  he  could  turn  into  money. 
There  was  evidently  some  heavy  strain  on  his  resources  which 
caused  him  to  convert  everything  he  could  into  cash. 

*  "Story  of  Lord  Bacon's  Life."     Hepworth  Dixon,  p.  28. 


BACON'S  SUIT,  ETC.  67 

are  between  1580  and  1590  0 — relate  to  one  subject,  and 
are  of  great  significance.  The  first  is  dated  from  Grays 
Inn,  i6th  September,  1580,  to  Lady  Burghley.  In  it 
young  Francis,  now  19  years  of  age,  makes  this  re- 
quest:  "That  it  would  please  your  Ladyship  in  your 
letters  wherewith  you  visit  my  good  Lord  to  vouchsafe 
the  mention  and  recommendation  of  my  suit ;  wherein 
your  Ladyship  shall  bind  me  more  unto  you  than  I  can 
look  ever  to  be  able  to  sufficiently  acknowledge." 

The  next  letter — written  on  the  same  day — is  ad- 
dressed to  Lord  Burghley.  Its  object  is  thus  set  forth : — 

"  My  letter  hath  no  further  errand  but  to  commend  unto  your 
Lordship  the  remembrance  of  my  suit  which  then  I  moved  unto 
you,  whereof  it  also  pleased  your  Lordship  to  give  me  good 
hearing  so  far  forth  as  to  promise  to  tender  it  unto  her  Majesty, 
and  withal  to  add  in  the  behalf  of  it  that  which  I  may  better 
deliver  by  letter  than  by  speech,  which  is,  that  although  it  must 
be  confessed  that  the  request  is  rare  and  unaccustomed,  yet  if  it 
be  observed  how  few  there  be  which  fall  in  with  the  study  of  the 
common  laws  either  being  well  left  or  friended,  or  at  their  own 
free  election,  or  forsaking  likely  success  in  other  studies  of  mere 
delight  and  no  less  preferment,  or  setting  hand  thereunto  early 
without  waste  of  years  upon  such  survey  made,  it  may  be  my 
case  may  not  seem  ordinary,  no  more  than  my  suit,  and  so  more 
beseeming  unto  it.  As  I  force  myself  to  say  this  in  excuse  of  my 
motion,  lest  it  should  appear  unto  your  Lordship  altogether  un- 
discreet  and  unadvised,  so  my  hope  to  obtain  it  resteth  only  upon 
your  Lordship's  good  affection  towards  me  and  grace  with  her 
Majesty,  who  methinks  needeth  never  to  call  for  the  experience 
of  the  thing,  where  she  hath  so  great  and  so  good  of  the  person 
which  recommendeth  it." 

0  The  two  letters  of  i6th  September,  1580,  and  that  of  i5th 
October,  1580,  are  taken  from  copies  in  the  Lansdowne  collec- 
tion. That  of  the  6th  May,  1586,  is  in  the  same  collection, 
and  is  an  original  in  Bacon's  handwriting.  The  letter  of 
25th  August,  1585,  is  also  in  his  handwriting,  and  is  in  the 
State  Papers,  Domestic.  The  letter  without  date,  written  to 
Burghley  presumably  in  1591,  is  from  the  supplement  to  the 
"  Resuscitatio,'1  1657. 


68        THE  MYSTERY  OF  FRANCIS  BACON. 

What  was  this  suit  ?  Spedding  cannot  suggest  any 
explanation.  He  says  :  "What  the  particular  employ- 
ment was  for  which  he  hoped  I  cannot  say  ;  something 
probably  connected  with  the  service  of  the  Crown,  to 
which  the  memory  of  his  father,  an  old  and  valued 
servant  prematurely  lost,  his  near  relationship  to  the 
Lord  Treasurer,  and  the  personal  notice  which  he  had 
himself  received  from  the  Queen,  would  naturally  lead 
him  to  look.  .  .  .  The  proposition,  whatever  it  was, 
having  been  explained  to  Burghley  in  conversation,  is 
only  alluded  to  in  these  letters.  It  seems  to  have  been 
so  far  out  of  the  common  way  as  to  require  an  apology, 
and  the  terms  of  the  apology  imply  that  it  was  for  some 
employment  as  a  lawyer.  And  this  is  all  the  light  I 
can  throw  upon  it."  Subsequently  Spedding  says  the 
motion  was  one*  "which  would  in  some  way  have 
made  it  unnecessary  for  him  to  follow  'a  course  of 
practice,'  meaning,  I  presume,  ordinary  practice  at  the 
Bar." 

Another  expression  in  the  letter  makes  it  clear  that 
the  object  of  the  suit  was  an  experiment.  The  Queen 
could  not  have  "experience  of  the  thing,"  and  Bacon 
solicited  Burghley's  recommendation,  because  she 
would  not  need  the  experience  if  he,  so  great  and  so 
good,  vouched  for  it. 

Burghley  appears  to  have  tendered  the  suit  to  the 
Queen,  for  there  is  a  letter  dated  i8th  October,  1580, 
addressed  to  him  by  Bacon,  commencing : 

"Your  Lordship's  comfortable  relation  to  her  Majesty's 
gracious  opinion  and  meaning  towards  me,  though  at  that  time 
your  leisure  gave  me  not  leave  to  show  how  I  was  affected  there- 
with, yet  upon  every  representation  thereof  it  entereth  and 
striketh  so  much  more  deeply  into  me,  as  both  my  nature  and 
duty  presseth  me  to  return  some  speech  of  thankfulness." 

Spedding  remarks  thereon  :    "It  seems  that  he  had 
0  "  Life  and  Letters,"  Vol.  I.  p.  57. 


BACON'S  SUIT,  ETC.  69 

spoken  to  Burghley  on  the  subject  and  made  some  over- 
ture, which  Burghley  undertook  to  recommend  to  the 
Queen  ;  and  that  the  Queen,  who  though  slow  to  bestow 
favours  was  careful  always  to  encourage  hopes,  enter- 
tained the  motion  graciously  and  returned  a  favourable 
answer.  The  proposition,  whatever  it  was,  having  been 
explained  to  Burghley  in  conversation,  is  only  alluded 
to  in  these  letters." 

Spedding  dismisses  these  three  letters  in  22  lines  of 
comment,  which  contain  the  extracts  before  set  out.  He 
regards  the  matter  as  of  slight  consequence,  and  admits 
that  he  can  throw  no  light  upon  it.  But  he  points  out 
that  it  was  "  so  far  out  of  the  common  way  as  to  require 
an  apology."  Surely  he  has  not  well  weighed  the 
terms  of  the  apology  when  he  says  they  "imply  that  it 
was  for  some  employment  as  a  lawyer." 

There  had  been  a  conversation  between  Bacon  and 
Burghley  during  which  Bacon  had  submitted  a  project 
to  the  accomplishment  of  which  he  was  prepared  to 
devote  his  life  in  the  Queen's  service.  It  necessitated 
his  abandoning  the  profession  of  the  law.  Apparently 
Burghley  had  remonstrated  with  him,  in  the  manner  of 
experienced  men  of  the  world,  against  forsaking  a 
certain  road  and  avenue  to  preferment  in  favour  of  any 
course  rare  and  unaccustomed.  Referring  in  his  letter 
to  this,  Bacon's  parenthetical  clause  beginning  "either 
being  well  left  or  friended,"  etc.,  is  confession  and 
avoidance.  In  effect  he  says  : — Few  study  the  common 
laws  who  have  influence ;  few  at  their  own  free  elec- 
tion ;  few  desert  studies  of  more  delight  and  no  less 
preferment ;  and  few  devote  themselves  to  that  study 
from  their  earliest  years.  Since  there  are  few  who, 
having  my  opportunities,  devote  themselves  to  the 
study  of  the  common  laws,  my  position  in  so  doing 
would  not  be  an  ordinary  one,  no  more  than  is  my  suit. 
Therefore,  why  should  I,  having  your  [Burleigh's] 
influence  to  help  me,  sacrifice  my  great  intellectual 


70        THE  MYSTERY  OF  FRANCIS  BACON. 

capabilities  fitting  me  to  accomplish  my  great  con- 
templative ends  ?  Why  should  I  sacrifice  them  to  a 
study  of  the  common  laws  ? 

The  sentence  may  be  otherwise  construed,  but  in 
any  case  it  involves  an  apology  for  the  abandonment 
of  the  profession  which  had  been  chosen  for  him. 

The  next  letter  is  addressed  to  the  Right  Honourable 
Sir  Francis  Walsingham,  principal  secretary  to  her 
Majesty,  and  is  dated  from  Grays  Inn,  25th  of  August, 
1585.  Spedding's  comment  on  it  is  as  follows  : — 

"  For  all  this  time,  it  seems,  the  suit  (whatever  it  was)  which  he 
had  made  to  her  through  Burghley  in  1580  remained  in  suspense, 
neither  granted  nor  denied,  and  the  uncertainty  prevented  him 
from  settling  his  course  of  life.  From  the  following  letter  to 
Walsingham  we  may  gather  two  things  more  concerning  it :  it 
was  something  which  had  been  objected  to  as  unfit  for  so  young 
a  man ;  and  which  would  in  some  way  have  made  it  unnecessary 
for  him  to  follow  'a  course  of  practice' — meaning,  I  presume, 
ordinary  practice  at  the  Bar." 

This  is  the  letter  : — 

"  It  may  please  your  Honour  to  give  me  leave  amidst  your 
great  and  diverse  business  to  put  you  in  remembrance  of  my 
poor  suit,  leaving  the  time  unto  your  Honour's  best  opportunity 
and  commodity.  I  think  the  objection  of  my  years  will  wear 
away  with  the  length  of  my  suit.  The  very  stay  doth  in  this 
respect  concern  me,  because  I  am  thereby  hindered  to  take  a 
course  of  practice  which,  by  the  leave  of  God,  if  her  Majesty 
like  not  my  suit,  I  must  and  will  follow  :  not  for  any  necessity  of 
estate,  but  for  my  credit  sake,  which  I  know  by  living  out  of 
action  will  wear.  I  spake  when  the  Court  was  at  Theball's  to 
Mr.  Vice-Chamberlain,0  who  promised  me  his  furderance  ;  which 
I  did  lest  he  mought  be  made  for  some  other.  If  it  may  please 
your  Honour,  who  as  I  hear  hath  great  interest  in  him,  to  speak 
with  him  in  it,  I  think  he  will  be  fast  mine." 

Spedding  remarks  :    "  This  is  the  last  we  hear  of  this 
suit,  the  nature  and  fate  of  which  must  both  be  left  to 

0  This  was  Sir  Christopher  Hatton. 


BACON'S  SUIT,  ETC.  71 

conjecture.  With  regard  to  its  fate,  my  own  conjecture 
is  that  he  presently  gave  up  all  hope  of  success  in  it, 
and  tried  instead  to  obtain  through  his  interest  at  Court 
some  furtherance  in  the  direct  line  of  his  profession." 

He  adds :  "The  solid  grounds  on  which  Bacon's  preten- 
sions rested  had  not  yet  been  made  manifest  to  the 
apprehension  of  Bench  and  Bar ;  his  mind  was  full  of 
matters  with  which  they  could  have  no  sympathy,  and 
the  shy  and  studious  habits  which  we  have  seen  so 
offend  Mr.  Faunt  would  naturally  be  misconstrued  in 
the  same  way  by  many  others."  * 

This  passage  refers  to  a  letter  to  Burghley  dated  the 
6th  of  the  following  May,  i.e.,  1586,  from  which  it  will  be 
seen  that  the  last  had  not  been  heard  of  the  motion. 
Burghley  had  been  remonstrating  with  Bacon  as  to 
reports  which  had  come  to  him  ot  his  nephew's  pro- 
ceedings. Bacon  writes  : — 

"  I  take  it  as  an  undoubted  sign  of  your  Lordship's  favour 
unto  me  that  being  hardly  informed  of  me  you  took  occasion 
rather  of  good  advice  than  of  evil  opinion  thereby.  And  if 
your  Lordship  had  grounded  only  upon  the  said  information  of 
theirs,  I  mought  and  would  truly  have  upholden  that  few  of  the 
matters  were  justly  objected  :  as  the  very  circumstances  do  induce 
in  that  they  were  delivered  by  men  that  did  misaffect  me  and 
besides  were  to  give  colour  to  their  own  doings.  But  because 
your  Lordship  did  mingle  therewith  both  a  late  motion  of  mine 
own  and  somewhat  which  you  had  otherwise  heard,  I  know  it  to 
be  my  duty  (and  so  do  I  stand  affected)  rather  to  prove  your 
Lordship's  admonition  effectual  in  my  doings  hereafter  than 
causeless  by  excusing  what  is  past.  And  yet  (with  your  Lord- 
ship's pardon  humbly  asked)  it  may  please  you  to  remember 
that  I  did  endeavour  to  set  forth  that  said  motion  in  such  sort  as 
it  mought  breed  no  harder  effect  than  a  denial,  and  I  protest 
simply  before  God  that  I  sought  therein  an  ease  in  coming 
within  Bars,  and  not  any  extraordinary  and  singular  note  of 
favour.1' 

May  not  the  interpretation  of  the  phrase  "  I  sought 
0  "  Life  and  Letters,"  Vol  I.  p.  59. 


72        THE  MYSTERY  OF  FRANCIS  BACON. 

therein  an  ease  in  coming  within  Bars"  be  "I  sought 
in  that  motion  a  freedom  from  the  burden  (or  necessity) 
of  coming  within  Bars."  The  phrase  "an  ease  in  "  is 
very  unusual,  and  unless  it  was  a  term  used  in  connec- 
tion with  the  Inns  it  is  difficult  to  see  its  precise 
meaning.  In  other  words,  he  sought  an  alternative 
method  to  provide  means  for  carrying  out  his  great 
philosophical  enterprise. 

There  is  an  interval  of  five  years  before  the  next  and 
last  letter  of  the  six  was  written.  It  is  undated,  but  an 
observation  in  it  shows  that  it  was  written  when  he  was 
about  31  years  of  age,  thus  fixing  the  date  at  1591. 

From  an  entry  in  Burghley's  note  book,*  dated  29 
October,  1589,  it  appears  that  in  the  meantime  a  grant 
had  been  made  to  Bacon  of  the  reversion  of  the  office  of 
Clerk  to  the  Counsel  in  the  Star  Chamber.  This  was 
worth  about  £1,600  per  annum  and  executed  by  deputy, 
but  the  reversion  did  not  fall  in  for  twenty  years,  so  it 
did  not  affect  the  immediate  difficulty  in  ways  and 
means. 

There  are  occasional  references  to  Francis  in 
Anthony's  correspondence  which  show  that  the  brothers 
were  residing  at  Grays  Inn,  but  nothing  is  stated  as  to 
the  occupation  of  the  younger  brother. 

At  this  time,  according  to  Spedding,|  who,  however, 
does  not  give  his  authority,  Francis  had  a  lodge  at 
Twickenham.  Many  of  his  letters  are  subsequently 
addressed  from  it,  and  three  years  later  he  was  keeping 
a  staff  of  scriveners  there. 

The  last  letter  is  addressed  to  Lord  Burghley,  who 
is  in  it  described  by  Bacon  as  "the  second  founder  of 
my  poor  estate,"  and  contains  the  following  : — 

"  I  cannot  accuse  myself  that  I  am  either  prodigal  or  slothful, 
yet  my  health  is  not  to  spend  nor  my  course  to  get.  Lastly,  I 
confess  that  I  have  as  vast  contemplative  ends  as  I  have 

0  Cott.  MSS.  Tit.  CX.  93. 
•f  "  Life  and  Letters,"  Vol.  I.,  p.  no. 


BACON  S   SUIT,    ETC.  73 

moderate  civil  ends  :  for  I  have  taken  all  knowledge  to  be  ray 
province.  This  whether  it  be  curiosity  or  vain  glory,  or  (if  one 
takes  it  favourably)  philanthropia,  is  so  fixed  in  my  mind  as  it 
cannot  be  removed.  And  I  do  easily  see,  that  place  of  any 
reasonable  countenance  doth  bring  commandment  of  more  wits 
than  of  a  man's  own,  which  is  the  thing  I  greatly  affect.  And 
for  your  Lordship,  perhaps  you  shall  not  find  more  strength  and 
less  encounter  in  any  other.  And  if  your  Lordship  shall  find 
now,  or  at  any  time,  that  I  do  seek  or  affect  any  place,  where- 
unto  any  that  is  nearer  to  your  Lordship  shall  be  concurrent, 
say  then  that  I  am  a  most  dishonest  man.  And  if  your  Lordship 
will  not  carry  me  on,  I  will  not  do  as  Anaxagoras  did,  who 
reduced  himself  with  contemplation  unto  voluntary  poverty  ;  but 
this  I  will  do,  I  will  sell  the  inheritance  that  I  have,  and  purchase 
some  lease  of  quick  revenue,  or  some  office  of  gain  that  shall  be 
executed  by  deputy,  and  so  give  over  all  care  of  service  and 
become  some  sorry  bookmaker,  or  a  true  pioneer  in  that  mine  of 
truth,  which  he  said  lay  so  deep.  This  which  I  have  writ  to  your 
Lordship  is  rather  thoughts  than  words,  being  set  down  without 
all  art,  disguising  or  reservation." 

The  suit  has  been  of  no  avail.  Once  more  Bacon 
appeals  (and  this  is  to  be  his  final  appeal)  to  his  uncle. 
He  is  writing  thoughts  rather  than  words,  set  down 
without  art,  disguising  or  reservation.  But  if  his 
Lordship  will  not  carry  him  along  he  has  definitely 
decided  on  his  course  of  action.  The  law  is  not  now 
even  referred  to.  If  the  object  of  the  suit  was  not 
stated  in  1580,  there  cannot  be  much  doubt  now  but 
that  it  had  to  do  with  the  making  of  books  and  pioneer 
work  in  the  mine  of  truth.  For  ten  years  Francis  Bacon 
had  waited,  buoyed  up  by  encouragements  and  false 
hopes.  Now  he  decides  to  take  his  fortune  into  his  own 
hands  and  rely  no  more  on  assistance  either  from  the 
Queen  or  Burghley. 

One  sentence  in  the  letter  should  be  noted  :  "  If  your 
Lordship  shall  find  now,  or  at  any  time,  that  I  do  seek 
or  affect  any  place  whereunto  any  that  is  nearer  unto 
your  Lordship  shall  be  concurrent,  say  then  that  I  am  a 
most  dishonest  man."  Surely  this  was  an  assurance  on 


74        THE  MYSTERY  OF  FRANCIS  BACON. 

Bacon's  part  that  he  did  not  seek  or  affect  to  stand  in 
the  way  of  the  one — the  only  one,  Robert  Cecil — who 
stood  nearer  to  Burghley  in  kinship. 

It    therefore    appears    evident    from    the    foregoing 
facts : — 

(1)  That  Francis  Bacon  at  17  years  of  age  was  an 
accomplished     scholar ;      that     his     knowledge     was 
abnormally   great,   and    that    his    wit,    memory,   and 
mental  qualities  were  of   the  highest  order — probably 
without  parallel. 

(2)  That  in  the  year  1580,  when   19  years  old,   he 
sought    the    assistance    of    Burghley    to    induce     the 
Queen    to    supply   him    with    means   and  the   oppor- 
tunity to  carry  out  some  great  work  upon  the  achieve- 
ment of  which  he  had  set  his  heart.     The  work  was 
without  precedent,  and  in  carrying  it  out  he  was  pre- 
pared to  dedicate  to  her  Majesty  the  use  and  spending 
of  his  life. 

(3)  That  for  ten  years  he  waited  and  hoped  for  the 
granting  ot  his  suit,  which  was  rare  and  unaccustomed, 
until  eventually  he  was  compelled  to  relinquish  it  and 
rely  upon  his  own  resources  to  effect  his  object. 

(4)  But  he  desired  to  command  other  wits  than  his 
own,  and  that  could  be  more  easily  achieved  by  one 
holding    place   of    any  reasonable   countenance.      He 
therefore  sought  through  Burleigh  place  accompanied 
by  income,  so  that  he  might  be  enabled  to  achieve  the 
vast  contemplative  ends  he  had  in  view. 

(5)  That  during  the  years  1580  to  1597,   in  which 
he  claims  that  he  was  not  slothful,  there  is  no  evidence 
of  his   being   occupied   in   his   profession   or  in  State 
affairs  to  any  appreciable  extent,  and  yet  there  do  not 
exist    any    acknowledged  works   as  the   result   of  his 
labours.     Rawley  states  that  Bacon  would  "  suffer  no 
moment  of  time  to  slip  from  him  without  some  present 
improvement." 

(6)  He  received  pecuniary  assistance  from  his  uncle, 


BACON'S  SUIT,  ETC.  75 

Lord  Burghley.  He  strained  the  monetary  resources 
of  his  mother  and  brother,  which  were  not  inconsider- 
able, to  the  utmost,  exhausted  his  own,  and  heavily 
encumbered  himself  with  debts,  and  yet  he  was  not 
prodigal  or  extravagant. 

(7)  Money  and  time  he  must  have  to  carry  out  his 
scheme,    which,  if  one  takes  it  favourably,  might  be 
termed  philanthropia,  and  he  therefore   decided  that, 
failing  obtaining  some  sinecure  office,  he  would  sell  the 
inheritance    he    had,    purchase    some    lease    of   quick 
revenue  or  office  of  gain  that  could  be  executed  by  a 
deputy,  give  over  all  care  of  serving   the   State,  and 
become  some  sorry  bookmaker  or  a  true  pioneer  in  the 
mine  of  truth. 

(8)  Spedding  says,  "  He  could  at  once  imagine  like  a 
poet  and  execute  like  a  clerk  of  the  works  "  ;   but  what- 
ever his  contemplative   ends   were    there    is    nothing 
known  to  his  biographers  which  reveals  the  result  of 
his  labours  as  clerk  of  the  works. 

(9)  If  he  carried  out  the  course  of  action  which  he 
contemplated  it  is  clear  that  he  decided  to  do  so  without 
himself  appearing  as  its  author  and  director.      From 
1580  to  1590  something  more  was  on  his  mind  than  the 
works  he  published  after  he  had  arrived  at  sixty  years 
of  age.    "  I  am  no  vain  promiser,"  he  said.     Where  can 
the  fulfilment  of  his  promise  be  found  ?     Can  his  course 
be  followed  by  tracing  through  the  period  the  trail  which 
was  left  by  some  great  and  powerful  mind  directing  the 
progress  of  the  English  Renaissance  ? 


76 


CHAPTER  X. 
THE    RARE    AND    UNACCUSTOMED    SUIT. 

WHAT  was  this  rare  and  unaccustomed  suit  of  which 
the  Queen  could  have  had  no  experience  and  which, 
according  to  Spedding,  would  make  it  unnecessary  for 
Bacon  to  follow  "ordinary  practice  at  the  bar"? 
Historians  and  biographers  have  founded  on  this  suit 
the  allegation  that  from  his  earliest  years  Bacon  was  a 
place  hunter,  entirely  ignoring  the  fact,  which  is  made 
clear  from  the  letter  to  Walsingham  written  four  years 
after  the  application  was  first  made,  that  he  had  resolved 
on  a  course  of  action  which,  if  her  Majesty  liked  not  his 
suit,  by  the  leave  of  God  he  must  and  would  follow,  not 
for  any  necessity  of  estate,  but  for  his  credit  sake.  Here 
was  a  young  man  of  twenty  years  of  age,  earnestly 
urging  the  adoption  of  a  scheme  which  he  had  con- 
ceived, and  which  he  feared  Burghley  might  consider 
indiscreet  and  unadvised.  Failing  in  obtaining  his 
object,  as  will  be  proved  by  definite  evidence,  under- 
taking at  the  cost  of  Thomas  Bodley  and  other  friends  a 
course  of  travel  to  better  fit  him  for  the  task  he  had 
mapped  out  as  his  life's  work — returning  to  England 
and,  four  years  after  his  first  request  had  been  made, 
renewing  his  suit — grimly  in  earnest  and  determined  to 
carry  the  scheme  through  at  all  costs,  with  or  without 
the  Queen's  aid.  This  is  not  the  conduct  of  a  mere 
place  hunter.  If  these  letters  be  read  aright  and  the 
reasonable  theory  which  will  be  advanced  of  the  nature 
of  the  suit  be  accepted — all  efforts  to  suggest  any 
explanation  having  hitherto,  as  Spedding  admits,  proved 
futile — a  fresh  light  will  be  thrown  upon  the  character 
of  Francis  Bacon,  and  the  heavy  obligation  under  which 


THE   RARE   AND   UNACCUSTOMED   SUIT.  77 

he  has  placed  his  countrymen  for  all  ages  will  for  the 
first  time  be  recognised. 

In  the  seven  volumes  of  "  Bacon's  Life  and  Letters  " 
there  is  nothing  to  justify  the  eulogy  on  his  character 
to  which  Spedding  gave  utterance  in  the  following 
words: — "But  in  him  the  gift  of  seeing  in  prophetic 
vision  what  might  be  and  ought  to  be  was  united  with 
the  practical  talent  of  devising  means  and  handling 
minute  details.  He  could  at  once  imagine  like  a  poet 
and  execute  like  a  clerk  of  the  works.  Upon  the  con- 
viction This  must  be  done  followed  at  once  How  may  it 
be  done  ?  Upon  that  question  answered  followed  the 
resolution  to  try  and  do  it."  But  although  Spedding 
fails  to  produce  any  evidence  to  justify  his  statement, 
it  is  nevertheless  correct.  More  than  that,  the  actual 
achievement  followed  with  unerring  certainty,  but 
Spedding  restricts  Bacon's  life's  work  to  the  establish- 
ment of  a  system  of  inductive  philosophy,  and  records 
the  failure  of  the  system. 

William  Cecil  was  a  man  of  considerable  classical 
attainments,  although  these  were  probably  not  superior 
to  those  of  Mildred  Cooke,  the  lady  who  became  his 
second  wife.  He  was  initiated  into  the  methods  of 
statesmanship  at  an  early  age  by  his  father,  Richard 
Cecil,  Master  of  the  Robes  to  Henry  VIII.  Having 
found  favour  with  Somerset,  the  Protector  of  Edward 
VI.,  he  was,  when  27  years  of  age,  made  Master  of 
Requests.  When  Somerset  fell  from  power  in  1549 
young  Cecil,  with  other  adherents  of  the  Protector,  was 
committed  to  the  Tower.  But  he  was  soon  released 
and  was  rapidly  advanced  by  Northumberland.  He 
became  Secretary  of  State,  was  knighted  and  made  a 
member  of  the  Privy  Council.  Mary  would  have  con- 
tinued his  employment  in  office  had  he  not  refused  her 
offers  on  account  of  his  adhesion  to  the  Protestant  faith. 
He  mingled  during  her  reign  with  men  of  all  parties  and 
his  moderation  and  cautious  conduct  carried  him 


78  THE   MYSTERY   OF  FRANCIS   BACON. 

through  that  period  without  mishap.  On  Elizabeth's 
accession  he  was  the  first  member  sworn  upon  the 
Privy  Council,  and  he  continued  during  the  remainder 
of  his  life  her  principal  Minister  of  State.  Sagacious, 
deliberate  in  thought  and  character,  tolerant,  a  man  of 
peace  and  compromise,  he  became  the  mainstay  of  the 
Queen's  government  and  the  most  influential  man  in 
State  affairs.  Whilst  he  maintained  a  princely  mag- 
nificence in  his  affairs,  his  private  life  was  pure,  gentle 
and  generous.  This  was  the  man  to  whom  the 
brilliant  young  nephew  of  his  wife  and  the  son  of  his 
old  friend,  Sir  Nicholas  Bacon,  disclosed,  some  time 
during  the  summer  of  1580,  his  scheme,  of  which  there 
had  been  no  experience,  and  entrusted  his  suit,  which 
was  rare  and  unaccustomed.  The  arguments  in  its 
favour  at  this  interview  may  have  followed  the  follow- 
ing outline : — 

I  need  not  remind  you  of  my  devotion  to  learning. 
You  know  that  from  my  earliest  boyhood  I  have  fol- 
lowed a  course  of  study  which  has  embraced  all  sub- 
jects. I  have  made  myself  acquainted  with  all 
knowledge  which  the  world  possesses.  To  enable 
me  to  do  this  I  mastered  all  languages  in  which  books 
are  written.  During  my  recent  visit  to  foreign  lands,  I 
have  recognized  how  far  my  country  falls  behind  others 
in  language,  and  consequently  in  literature.  I  would 
draw  your  special  attention  to  the  remarkable  advance 
which  has  been  made  in  these  matters  in  France  during 
your  lordship's  lifetime.  When  I  arrived  there  in  1576 
I  made  myself  acquainted  with  the  principles  of  the 
movement  which  had  been  carried  through  by 
Du  Bellay,  Ronsard,  and  their  confreres.  They  recog- 
nized that  their  native  language  was  crude  and  lacking 
in  gravity  and  art.  First  by  obtaining  a  complete 
mastery  of  the  Greek  and  Latin  languages,  as  also  of  those 
of  Italy  and  Spain,  they  prepared  themselves  for  a  study 
of  the  literatures  of  which  those  languages,  with  their 


THE   RARE   AND   UNACCUSTOMED   SUIT.  79 

idioms  and  peculiarities,  form  the  basis.  Having  obtained 
this  mastery  they  reconstructed  their  native  language 
and  gave  their  country  a  medium  by  which  her  writers 
might  express  their  thoughts  and  emotions.  They  have 
made  it  possible  for  their  countrymen  to  rival  the  poets 
of  ancient  Greece  and  Rome.  They  and  others  of  their 
countrymen  have  translated  the  literary  treasures  of 
those  ancient  nations  into  their  own  tongue,  and 
thereby  enabled  those  speaking  their  language,  who  are 
not  skilled  in  classical  languages,  to  enjoy  and  profit 
by  the  works  of  antiquity.  Your  lordship  knows  well 
the  deficiencies  of  the  language  of  our  England,  the 
absence  of  any  literature  worthy  of  the  name.  In  these 
respects  the  condition  of  affairs  is  far  behind  that 
which  prevailed  in  France  even  before  the  great  move- 
ment which  Ronsard  and  Du  Bellay  initiated.  I  do 
not  speak  of  Italy,  which  possesses  a  language 
melodious,  facile,  and  rich,  and  a  literature  which  can 
never  die. 

I  know  my  own  powers.  I  possess  every  qualification 
which  will  enable  me  to  do  for  my  native  tongue  what 
the  Pleiade  have  done  for  theirs.  I  ask  to  be  permitted 
to  give  to  my  country  this  great  heritage.  Others  may 
serve  her  in  the  law,  others  may  serve  her  in  affairs  of 
state,  but  your  Lordship  knows  full  well  that  there  are 
none  who  could  serve  her  in  this  respect  as  could  I. 
You  are  not  unmindful  of  the  poorness  of  my  estate. 
This  work  will  not  only  entail  a  large  outlay  of  money 
but  it  necessitates  command  of  the  ablest  wits  of  the 
nation.  This  is  my  suit :  that  her  Majesty  will 
graciously  confer  on  me  some  office  which  will  enable 
me  to  control  such  literary  resources  and  the  services 
of  such  men  as  may  be  necessary  for  the  accomplish- 
ment of  this  work ;  further,  that  she  may  be  pleased 
from  time  to  time  to  make  grants  from  the  civil  list  to 
cover  the  cost  of  the  work.  I  need  not  remind  your 
Lordship  what  fame  will  ever  attach  to  her  Majesty 


80        THE  MYSTERY  OF  FRANCIS  BACON. 

and  how  glorious  will  be  the  memory  of  her  reign  if 
this  great  project  be  effected  in  it.  Your  Lordship 
must  realise  this  because  you  and  her  Ladyship,  my 
aunt,  are  by  your  attainments  qualified  to  appreciate 
its  full  value.  My  youth  may  be  urged  as  an  objection 
to  my  fitness  for  such  a  task,  but  your  Lordship  knows 
full  well — none  better — that  my  powers  are  not  to  be 
measured  by  my  years.  This  I  will  say,  I  am  no  vain 
promiser,  but  I  am  assured  that  I  can  accomplish  all 
that  I  contemplate.  The  Queen  hath  such  confidence 
in  the  soundness  of  your  judgment  that  she  will  listen 
to  your  advice.  My  prayer  to  you  therefore  is  that  it 
may  please  your  Lordship  both  herein  and  elsewhere  to 
be  my  patron  and  urge  my  suit,  which,  although  rare 
and  unaccustomed,  may  be  granted  if  it  receives  your 
powerful  support. 

The  suit  was  submitted  to  the  Queen,  but  without 
result.  Probably  it  was  not  urged  with  a  determina- 
tion to  obtain  its  acceptance  in  spite  of  any  objections 
which  might  be  raised  by  the  Queen.  Five  years  after, 
Bacon,  still  a  suppliant,  wrote  to  Walsingham :  "  I  think 
the  objection  to  my  years  will  wear  away  with  the 
length  of  my  suit."  Cautious  Lord  Burghley  would 
give  full  weight  to  the  force  of  this  objection  if  it  were 
advanced  by  the  Queen.  He  loved  this  boy,  with  his 
extraordinary  abilities,  but  he  had  such  novel  and  far- 
reaching  ideas.  He  appeared  to  have  no  adequate 
reverence  for  his  inferior  superiors.  On  leaving  Cam- 
bridge he  had  arrogantly  condemned  its  cherished 
methods  of  imparting  knowledge.  Before  power  was 
placed  in  his  hands  the  use  he  might  make  of  it  must 
be  well  weighed  and  considered.  What  effect  might 
the  advancement  of  Francis  Bacon  have  on  Robert 
Cecil's  career  ?  Granted  that  the  contentions  of  the 
former  were  sound,  and  the  object  desirable,  should  not 
this  work  be  carried  out  by  the  Universities  ?  Never 
leap  until  you  know  where  you  are  going  to  alight  was 


THE   RARE   AND   UNACCUSTOMED   SUIT.  8l 

a  proverb  the  soundness  of  which  had  been  proved  in 
Lord  Burghley's  experience.  What  might  be  the  out- 
come if  this  rare  and  unaccustomed  suit  were  granted  ? 
Better  for  the  Queen,  who,  though  slow  to  bestow 
favours,  was  always  ready  to  encourage  hopes,  to  follow 
her  usual  course.  She  might  entertain  the  motion 
graciously  and  return  a  favourable  answer  and  let  it 
rest  there.  And  so  it  did. 

Then   there  was  a  happening   which   has   remained 
unknown  until  now. 


82 


CHAPTER  XI. 

BACON'S    SECOND    VISIT    TO    THE 
CONTINENT    AND    AFTER. 

IN  the  "Reliquiae  Bodleianas,"  published  in  1703,  is  a 
letter  written  without  date  by  Thomas  Bodley  to 
Francis  Bacon.  This  letter  does  not  appear  to  have 
been  known  to  Mallett,  Montague,  Dixon,  Spedding,  or 
any  of  Bacon's  biographers.  It  had  been  lost  sight 
of  until  the  writer  noticed  it  and  reproduced  it  in 
Baconiana.  This  is  the  letter: — 

MY  DEAR  COUSIN, — According  to  your  request  in  your  letter 
(dated  the  igth  October  at  Orleans,  I  received  here  the  i8th  of 
December),  I  have  sent  you  by  your  merchant  ^30  (the  thirty 
is  written  thus  30  1 )  sterling  for  your  present  supply,  and  had 
sent  you  a  greater  sum,  but  that  my  extraordinary  charge  this 
year  hath  utterly  unfurnished  me.  And  now,  cousin,  though  I 
will  be  no  severe  exactor  of  the  account,  either  of  your  money  or 
time,  yet  for  the  love  I  bear  you,  I  am  very  desirous,  both  to 
satisfy  myself,  and  your  friends  how  you  prosper  in  your  travels, 
and  how  you  find  yourself  bettered  thereby,  either  in  knowledge 
of  God,  or  of  the  world  ;  the  rather,  because  the  Days  you  have 
already  spent  abroad,  are  now  both  sufficient  to  give  you  Light, 
how  to  fix  yourself  and  end  with  counsel,  and  accordingly  to 
shape  your  course  constantly  unto  it.  Besides,  it  is  a  vulgar 
scandal  unto  the  travellers,  that  few  return  more  religious  (nar- 
row, editor)  than  they  went  forth  ;  wherein  both  my  hope  and 
Request  is  to  you,  that  your  principal  care  be  to  hold  your 
Foundation,  and  to  make  no  other  use  of  informing  your  self  in 
the  corruptions  and  superstitions  of  other  nations,  than  only 
thereby  to  engage  your  own  heart  more  firmly  to  the  Truth.  You 
live  indeed  in  a  country  of  two  several  professions,  and  you  shall 
return  a  Novice,  if  you  be  not  able  to  give  an  account  of  the 
Ordinances,  strength,  and  progress  of  each,  in  Reputation,  and 
Party,  and  how  both  are  supported,  ballanced  and  managed  by 


BACON'S  SECOND  VISIT,  ETC.  83 

the  state,  as  being  the  contrary  humours,  in  the  Temper  of  Pre- 
dominancy whereof,  the  Health  or  Disease  of  that  Body  doth 
consist.  These  things  you  will  observe,  not  only  as  an  English- 
man, whom  it  may  concern,  to  what  interest  his  country  may 
expect  in  the  consciences  of  their  Neighbours  ;  but  also,  as  a 
Christian,  to  consider  both  the  beauties  and  blemishes,  the  hopes 
and  dangers  of  the  church  in  all  places.  Now  for  the  world,  I 
know  it  too  well,  to  persuade  you  to  dive  into  the  practices 
thereof;  rather  stand  upon  your  own  guard,  against  all  that 
attempt  you  there  unto,  or  may  practise  upon  you  in  your 
Conscience,  Reputation,  or  your  Purse.  Resolve,  no  Man  is  wise 
or  safe,  but  he  that  is  honest  :  And  let  this  Persuasion  turn  your 
studies  and  observations  from  the  Complement  and  Impostures 
of  the  debased  age,  to  more  real  grounds  of  wisdom,  gathered 
out  of  the  story  of  Times  past,  and  out  of  the  government  of 
the  present  state.  Your  guide  to  this,  is  the  knowledge  of  the 
country  and  the  people  among  whom  ye  live  ;  For  the  country 
though  you  cannot  see  all  places,  yet  if,  as  you  pass  along,  you 
enquire  carefully,  and  further  help  yourself  with  Books  that  are 
written  of  the  cosmography  of  those  parts,  you  shall  sufficiently 
gather  the  strength,  Riches,  Traffick,  Havens,  Shipping,  com- 
modities, vent,  and  the  wants  and  disadvantages  of  places. 
Wherein  also,  for  your  good  hereafter,  and  for  your  friends,  it 
will  befit  to  note  their  buildings,  Furnitures,  Entertainments  ; 
all  their  Husbandry,  and  ingenious  inventions,  in  whatsoever 
concerneth  either  Pleasure  or  Profit. 

For  the  people,  your  tra flick  among  them,  while  you  learn 
their  language,  will  sufficiently  instruct  you  in  their  Habilities, 
Dispositions,  and  Humours,  if  you  a  little  enlarge  the  Privacy  of 
your  own  Nature,  to  seek  acquaintance  with  the  best  sort  of 
strangers,  and  restrain  your  Affections  and  Participation,  for  your 
own  countrymen  of  whatsoever  condition. 

In  the  story  of  France,  you  have  a  large  and  pleasant  Field  in 
three  lines  of  their  Kings,  to  observe  their  alliances  and  suc- 
cessions, their  Conquests,  their  wars,  especially  with  us ;  their 
Councils,  their  treaties  ;  and  all  Rules  and  examples  of  experi- 
ences and  Wisdom,  which  may  be  Lights  and  Remembrances  to 
you  hereafter,  to  Judge  of  all  occurants  both  at  home  and  abroad. 

Lastly,  for  the  Government,  your  end  must  not  be  like  an 
Intelligencer,  to  spend  all  your  time  in  fishing  after  the  present 
News,  Humours,  Graces,  or  Disgraces  of  Court,  which  happily 
may  change  before  you  come  home  ;  but  your  better  and  more 


84  THE   MYSTERY   OF   FRANCIS   BACON. 

constant  ground  will  be,  to  know  the  Consanguinities,  Alliances, 
and  Estates  of  their  Princes  ;  Proportion  between  the  Nobility 
and  Magistracy  ;  the  Constitutions  of  their  Courts  of  Justice  ;  the 
state  of  the  Laws,  as  well  for  the  making  as  the  execution 
thereof  ;  Hoxv  the  Sovereignty  of  the  King  infuseth  itself  into 
all  Acts  and  Ordinances  ;  how  many  ways  they  lay  Impositions 
and  Taxations,  and  gather  Revenues  to  the  Crown. 

What  be  the  Liberties  and  Servitudes  of  all  degrees  ;  what 
Discipline  and  Preparations  for  wars  ;  what  Invention  for  in- 
crease of  Traffick  at  home,  for  multiplying  their  commodities, 
encouraging  Arts  and  Manufactures,  or  of  worth  in  any  kind. 
Also  what  establishment,  to  prevent  the  Necessities  and  Discon- 
tentment of  People,  To  cut  off  suits  at  Law,  and  Duels,  to  suppress 
thieves  and  all  Disorders. 

To  be  short,  because  my  purpose  is  not  to  bring  all  your 
Observations  to  Heads,  but  only  by  these  few  to  let  you  know 
what  manner  of  Return  your  Friends  expect  from  you  ;  let  me, 
for  all  these  and  all  the  rest,  give  you  this  one  Note,  which  I 
desire  you  to  observe  as  the  Counsels  of  a  Friend,  Not  to  spend 
your  Spirits,  and  the  precious  time  of  your  Travel,  in  a  Captious 
Prejudice  and  censuring  of  all  things,  nor  in  an  Infectious  Col- 
lection of  base  Vices  and  Fashions  of  Men  and  Women,  or 
general  corruption  of  these  times,  which  will  be  of  use  only 
Among  Humorists,  for  Jests  and  Table-Talk  :  but  rather  strain 
your  Wits  and  Industry  soundly  to  instruct  your-self  in  all  things 
between  Heaven  and  Earth  which  may  tend  to  Virtue,  Wisdom, 
and  Honour,  and  which  may  make  your  life  more  profitable  to 
your  country,  and  yourself  more  comfortable  to  your  friends, 
and  acceptable  to  God.  And  to  conclude,  let  all  these  Riches 
be  treasured  up,  not  only  in  your  memory,  where  time  may  lessen 
your  stock  ;  but  rather  in  good  writings,  and  Books  of  Account, 
which  will  kecpt  them  safe  for  your  use  hereafter. 

And  if  in  this  time  of  your  liberal  Traffick,  you  will  give  me 
any  advertizement  of  your  commodities  in  these  kinds,  I  will 
make  you  as  liberal  a  Return  from  my  self  and  your  Friends 
here,  as  I  shall  be  able. 

And  so  commending  all  your  good  Endeavours,  to  him  that 
must  either  wither  or  prosper  them,  I  very  kindly  bid  you 
farcwel. 

Your's  to  be  commanded,  THOMAS  BODLEY. 

Spedding  prints   this   letter  (Vol.    II.    p.    16)    com- 


BACON'S  SECOND  VISIT,  ETC.  85 

mencing  with  the  words,  "Yet  for  the  love  I  bear,"  to 
the  end,  with  the  exception  of  the  last  sentence,  as  a 
letter  written  probably  by  Bacon  for  Essex  to  send  to 
the  Earl  of  Rutland.  He  identifies  it  as  "the  letter 
which  the  compiler  of  Stephens'  Catalogue  took  for  a 
letter  addressed  by  Bacon  to  Buckingham,"  which  he 
says  it  could  not  be.  The  original  is  at  Lambeth  (MSS. 
936,  fo.  218).  The  seal  remains,  but  the  part  of  the 
last  sheet  which  contained  the  signature  on  one  side, 
and  the  superscription  on  the  other,  has  been  torn  off. 
The  letter  commences,  "My  good  Lord,"  and  ends, 
"  Your  Lordship's  in  all  duty  to  serve  you."  It  would 
appear,  therefore,  that  someone  had  access  to  Bodley's 
letter  to  Bacon,  and,  approving  its  contents,  used  its 
contents  a  second  time. 

There  are  two  palpable  deductions  to  be  drawn  from 
this  letter :  (i)  That  Bacon  was  on  a  journey  through 
several  countries  to  obtain  knowledge  of  their  customs, 
laws,  religion,  military  strength,  shipping,  and  whatso- 
ever concerneth  pleasure  or  profit.  There  is  a  striking 
correspondence  between  Bodley's  advice  and  the  de- 
scription of  Bacon's  travels  found  in  the  "Life"  pre- 
fixed to  "  L'Histoire  Naturelle."  (2)  That  Bacon  was 
being  supported  by  Bodley  and  other  of  his  friends, 
who  desired  him  to  keep  a  record  of  all  that  he  observed 
and  learnt,  and  to  report  from  time  to  time  as  he  pro- 
gressed, and  in  return,  said  Bodly,  "I  will  make  you 
as  liberal  a  return  from  myself  and  your  friends  here 
as  I  shall  be  able."  This  letter  was  written  from 
England,  and  there  is  a  paragraph  in  Bodley's  "Life," 
written  by  himself,  which  makes  it  possible  to  fix  the 
year : — 

"  My  resolution  fully  taken  I  departed  out  of  England  anno 
1576  and  continued  very  neare  foure  yeares  abroad,  and  that  in 
sundry  parts  of  Italy,  France,  and  Germany.  A  good  while 
after  my  return  to  wit,  in  the  yeare  1585  I  was  employed  by  the 
Queen,"  etc. 

G 


86  THE   MYSTERY   OF   FRANCIS    BACON. 

If  this  letter  was  written  between  1576  and  1579  it 
would  appear  strange  that  Bodley  and  others  should 
be  providing  Bacon  with  money  for  his  travels,  and 
requiring  reports  from  him,  whilst  his  father,  Sir 
Nicholas  Bacon,  was  alive  and  prosperous.  No  such 
difficulty,  however,  arises,  for  the  letter,  being  sent  from 
England,  could  not  have  been  written  between  the  date 
of  Bacon's  first  departure  for  France  in  1576  and  his 
return  on  his  father's  death  in  1579,  for  during  the 
whole  of  that  time  Bodley  was  abroad.  It  is  stated 
in  it  that  Bacon  wrote  from  Orleans  a  letter  dated 
igth  October,  the  year  not  being  given.  This  could 
not  be  in  1580,  for  Bacon  wrote  to  Lord  Burghley  from 
Gray's  Inn  on  the  i8th  October,  1580.  Spedding  com- 
mences the  paragraph  immediately  following  this  letter 
by  saying,  "From  this  time  we  have  no  further  news 
of  Francis  Bacon  till  the  5th  of  April,  1582,"  and 
although  he  does  not  reproduce  the  letter,  he  relies  on 
a  letter  from  Faunt  to  Anthony  Bacon,  to  which  that 
date  is  attributed  in  Birch's  "Memorials,"  Vol.  I. 
page  22.  In  it  Faunt  refers  to  having  seen  Anthony's 
mother  and  his  brother  Francis.  Faunt  left  Paris  for 
England  on  the  22nd  March,  1582.  This  letter  was 
written  on  the  I5th  of  the  following  month,  so  no  trace 
has  been  found  of  Francis  being  in  England  between 
i8th  October,  1580,  and  5th  of  April,  1582.  Bodley's 
letter,  must,  therefore,  have  been  written  in  December, 
1581,  when  Bacon  was  abroad  making  a  journey 
through  several  countries.  From  the  foregoing  facts  it 
is  impossible  to  form  any  other  conclusion.  Now  for 
the  first  time  this  journey  has  been  made  known.  There 
is  a  letter  amongst  the  State  papers  in  the  Record 
Office,  dated  February,  1581,  written  by  Anthony  Bacon 
to  Lord  Burghley,  enclosing  a  note  of  advice  and  in- 
structions for  his  brother  Francis.  Anthony  was  an 
experienced  traveller,  and  was  then  abroad.  It  reads 
as  though  he  was  sending  advice  and  instructions  to  his 


BACON'S  SECOND  VISIT,  ETC.  87 

younger  brother,  who  was  about  to  start  on  travels 
through  countries  with  which  Anthony  was  familiar. 
If  so,  Francis  would  leave  England  early  in  March, 
1581 — that  is,  if  he  had  not  left  before  this  letter  was 
received  by  Burghley. 

Having  established  beyond  reasonable  doubt  the  fact  of 
this  journey,  a  new  and  remarkable  suggestion  presents 
itself.  Spedding,  when  dealing  with  the  year  1582, 
prints  "  Notes  on  the  State  of  Christendom,"  *  with  the 
following  remarks : — 

"  If  that  paper  of  notes  concerning  '  The  State  of  Europe  ' 
which  was  printed  as  Bacon's  in  the  supplement  to  Stephens' 
second  collection  in  1734,  reprinted  by  Mallet  in  1760,  and  has 
been  placed  at  the  beginning  of  his  political  writings  in  all 
editions  since  1563,  be  really  of  his  composition,  this  is  the  period 
of  his  life  to  which  it  belongs.  I  must  confess,  however,  that  I 
am  not  satisfied  with  the  evidence  or  authority  upon  which  it 
appears  to  have  been  ascribed  to  him." 

Robert  Stephens,  who  was  Historiographer  Royal  in 
the  reign  of  William  and  Mary,  states  that  the  Earl  of 
Oxford  placed  in  his  hands  some  neglected  manuscripts 
and  loose  papers  to  see  whether  any  of  the  Lord  Bacon's 
compositions  lay  concealed  there  and  were  fit  for  pub- 
lication. He  found  some  of  them  written,  and  others 
amended,  with  his  lordship's  own  hand.  He  found 
certain  of  the  treatises  had  been  published  by  him,  and 
that  others,  certainly  genuine,  which  had  not,  were  fit 
to  be  transcribed  if  not  divulged.  Spedding  states  that 
he  has  little  doubt  that  this  paper  on  the  state  of  Europe 
was  among  these  manuscripts  and  loose  papers,  for  the 
editor  states  that  the  supplementary  pieces  (of  which 
this  was  one)  were  added  from  originals  found  among 
Stephens'  papers.  The  original  is  now  among  the  Har- 
leian  MSS.  in  the  British  Museum.  Spedding  thus 
describes  it  : — 

0  "  Life  and  Letters,"  Vol.  I.,  page  16. 


88  THE   MYSTERY  OF   FRANCIS   BACON. 

"  The  Harleian  MS.  is  a  copy  in  an  old  hand,  probably  con- 
temporary, but  not  Francis  Bacon's.  A  few  sentences  have  been 
inserted  afterwards  by  the  same  hand,  and  two  by  another  which 
is  very  like  Anthony  Bacon's  ;  none  in  Francis's.  The  blanks 
have  all  been  filled  up,  but  no  words  have  been  corrected,  though 
it  is  obvious  that  in  some  places  they  stand  in  need  of  correction. 

"  Certain  allusions  to  events  then  passing  (which  will  be  pointed 
out  in  their  place)  prove  that  the  original  paper  was  written,  or 
at  least  completed,  in  the  summer  of  1582,  at  which  time  Francis 
Bacon  was  studying  law  in  Gray's  Inn,  while  Anthony  was 
travelling  in  France  in  search  of  political  intelligence  and  was  in 
close  correspondence  with  Nicholas  Faunt,  a  secretary  of  Sir 
Francis  VValsingham's,  who  had  spent  the  previous  year  in 
France,  Germany,  Switzerland,  and  the  north  of  Italy,  on  the  same 
errand  ;  and  was  now  living  about  the  English  Court,  studying 
affairs  at  home,  and  collecting  and  arranging  the  observations 
which  he  had  made  abroad,  '  having  already  recovered  all  his 
writings  and  books  which  he  had  left  behind  him  in  Italy  and  in 
Frankfort '  (see  Birch's  '  Memoirs,'  I.  24),  and  it  is  remembered 
that  if  this  paper  belonged  to  Anthony  Bacon,  it  would  naturally 
descend  at  his  death  to  Francis  and  so  remain  among  his 
manuscripts,  where  it  is  supposed  to  have  been  found. 

"Thus  it  appears  that  the  external  evidence  justifies  no  in- 
ference as  to  the  authorship,  and  the  only  question  is  whether 
the  style  can  be  considered  conclusive.  To  me  it  certainly  is 
not.  But  as  this  is  a  point  upon  which  the  reader  should  be 
allowed  to  judge  for  himself,  and  as  the  paper  is  interesting  in 
itself  and  historically  valuable  and  has  always  passed  for  Bacon's, 
it  is  here  printed  from  the  original  though  (to  distinguish  it 
from  his  undoubted  compositions)  in  a  smaller  type." 

Spedding's  difficulty  in  accepting  this  paper  as  from 
Bacon's  pen  really  lay  in  the  fact  that  from  the  internal 
evidence  it  is  obvious  that  it  was  written  by  one  who 
had  himself  travelled  through,  at  any  rate,  some  of  the 
countries  described.  The  results  of  personal  observation 
are  again  and  again  apparent.  According  to  Spedding, 
Bacon  was  in  1581 — 1582  studying  law  at  Gray's  Inn  ; 
according  to  Bodley  he  was  on  the  Continent  making 
observations  for  his  future  guidance.  The  reader  can 
judge  of  the  value  of  the  external  evidence.  It  is  not  con- 


BACON'S  SECOND  VISIT,  ETC.  89 

elusive,  but  the  draft  being  found  amongst  papers  which 
were  unquestionably  Bacon's  writings  and  being  adopted 
as  Bacon's  and  published  as  such  by  those  who  found 
it,  the  balance  of  probabilities  is  distinctly  in  favour  of 
its  being  his.  As  to  the  internal  evidence  much  may  be 
said.  It  corresponds  as  closely  as  it  is  possible  with 
Bodley's  requirements  as  set  forth  in  his  letter  of  Decem- 
ber. It  is  exactly  "the  manner  of  return  "  Bodley 
wrote  to  Francis  "your  friends  expect  from  you." 
"And,"  he  added,  "if  in  this  time  of  your  liberal 
Traffick,  you  will  give  me  any  advertisement  of  your 
commodities  in  these  kinds,  I  will  make  you  as  liberal  a 
return  from  myself  and  your  friends  here  as  I  shall  be 
able." 

The  date  agrees  with  that  of  Bacon's  second  visit  to 
the  Continent.  In  Spedding's  Life  and  Letters  it 
occupies  twelve  and  a-half  pages,  of  which  five  are 
occupied  by  descriptions  of  Italy,  one  of  Austria,  two  of 
Germany  (chiefly  a  recital  of  names  and  places),  two  of 
France,  three-quarters  of  Spain,  one  and  three-quarters 
of  Portugal,  Poland,  Denmark,  and  Sweden.  This  may 
have  been  Bacon's  itinerary  in  1581 — 2. 

Italy  is  treated  with  considerable  detail  and  was 
undoubtedly  described  from  personal  observation,  as 
were  France  and  Spain.  In  a  less  degree  the  descrip- 
tion of  Austria,  Poland  and  Denmark  produces  this 
impression  ;  in  a  still  smaller  degree  Portugal  and 
Sweden,  and  it  is  quite  absent  from  the  description  of 
Germany.  Florence,  Venice,  Mantua,  Genoa,  Savoy, 
are  dealt  with  in  most  detail.  Rawley  states  that  it  was 
Bacon's  intention  to  have  stayed  abroad  some  years 
longer  when  he  was  called  home  by  the  death  of  his 
father,  to  find  himself  left  in  straightened  circum- 
stances. Then  followed  his  ineffectual  suit,  which  he 
still  persisted  in.  Bodley  evidently  was,  if  not  the  in- 
stigator, at  any  rate  the  paymaster  for  this  second 
journey.  Anthony's  letter  of  February,  1581,  points  to 


gO        THE  MYSTERY  OF  FRANCIS  BACON. 

Burghley  as  a  participator  in  the  project.  He  would 
assist  not  only  out  of  kindly  feeling,  but  the  journey 
would  at  any  rate  get  this  ambitious,  determined  young 
man  out  of  the  way  for  a  time,  and  possibly  the 
journey  might  get  this  unaccustomed  suit  out  of  his 
mind.  Thus  it  came  about. 

From  Faunt's  letters,  Spedding  says  we  derive  what 
little  information  we  have  with  regard  to  Francis's 
proceedings  from  1583  to  1584.  "From  them  we 
gather  little  more  than  that  he  remained  studying  at 
Gray's  Inn,  occasionally  visiting  his  mother  at  Gor- 
hambury,  or  going  with  her  to  hear  Travers  at  the 
Temple  and  occasionally  appearing  at  the  Court." 

But  the  suit  was  not  abandoned,  for  there  is  the 
letter  of  25th  August,  1585,  to  Walsingham,  when 
Bacon  writes  :  "I  think  the  objection  of  my  years 
will  wear  away  with  the  length  of  my  suit.  The  very 
stay  doth  in  this  respect  concern  me,  because  I  am 
thereby  hindered  to  take  a  course  of  practice  which  by 
the  leave  of  God,  if  her  Majesty  like  not  of  my  suit,  I 
must  and  will  follow  :  not  for  any  necessity  of  estate, 
but  for  my  credit  sake,  which  I  know  by  living  out  of 
action  will  wear." 

Again,  the  old,  "rare  and  unaccustomed  suit"  of 
which  the  Queen  could  have  had  no  experience  !  Either 
the  persuasive  powers  of  Burghley  had  failed  or  he  had 
not  exerted  them.  Probably  the  latter,  because  the 
troublesome,  determined  young  man  is  now  worrying 
Walsingham  and  Hatton  to  urge  its  acceptance  with  the 
Queen.  The  purport  of  the  foregoing  extract  effectually 
precludes  the  possibility  of  this  suit  referring  to  his 
advancement  at  the  bar.  For  five  years  it  has  been 
proceeding — he  has  been  indulging  in  hopes  which 
have  been  unfulfilled.  Now  he  will  wait  no  longer, 
but  he  will  adopt  a  course  which,  if  her  Majesty  like 
not  his  suit,  by  the  leave  of  God  he  must  and  will 
follow,  not  for  any  necessity  of  making  money  but  be- 


BACON'S  SECOND  VISIT,  ETC.  91 

cause  he  feels  impelled  to  it  by  a  sense  of  responsibility 
which  he  must  fulfil.  Walsingham  and  Hatton  do  not 
appear  to  have  helped  the  matter  forward.  There  was 
little  probability  of  them  succeeding  in  influencing  the 
Queen  where  Burghley  had  failed.  There  was  still  less 
probability  of  them  attempting  to  influence  her  if  Burgh- 
ley  objected.  Had  this  suit  referred  to  advancement  in 
the  law  it  would  have  been  granted  with  the  aid  of 
Burghley's  influence  years  before.  Had  it  referred  to 
some  ordinary  office  of  State,  friends  so  powerful  as 
Burghley,  Walsingham  and  Hatton  could  and  would 
have  obtained  anything  within  reason  for  this  brilliant 
young  son  of  Sir  Nicholas  Bacon,  for  there  was  no 
complication  with  Essex  until  after  1591.  But  this 
rare  and  unaccustomed  suit  of  which  there  had  been  no 
experience  was  another  matter. 

Six  more  years  pass,  and  although  there  is  now  no  suit 
to  the  Queen  there  is  the  same  idea  prevailing  in  the 
letter  to  Burghley — a  seeking  for  help  to  achieve  some 
great  scheme  upon  which  Bacon's  mind  was  so  fixed  "as 
it  cannot  be  removed,"  "  whether  it  be  curiosity,  vain- 
glory or  nature,  or  (if  one  take  it  favourably)  philan- 
thropia."  Still  he  required  the  command  of  more  wits 
than  of  a  man's  own,  which  is  the  thing  he  did  greatly 
affect.  Still  his  course  was  not  to  get.  Still  the  deter- 
mination to  achieve  the  object  without  help,  if  help 
could  not  be  obtained — to  achieve  it  by  becoming  some 
sorry  bookmaker  or  a  pioneer  in  that  mine  of  truth  which 
Anaxagoras  said  lay  so  deep.  This  is  emphasised. 
These  are  "  thoughts  rather  than  words,  being  set  down 
without  all  art,  disguising  or  reservation." 

There  are  two  significant  sentences  in  this  letter 
written  to  Burghley  when  Bacon  was  31  years  of  age. 
He  describes  Burghley  as  "the  second  founder  of  my 
poor  estate,"  and,  further,  he  uses  the  expression  "And 
if  your  Lordship  will  not  carry  me  on."  What  can 
these  allusions  mean  but  that  Burghley  had  been  render- 


92  THE   MYSTERY    OF   FRANCIS   BACON. 

ing  financial  assistance  to  his  nephew  ?  If  the  theory 
here  put  forward  as  to  the  nature  of  the  suit  be  correct, 
the  object  was  one  which  would  have  Burghley's  cordial 
support.  That  he  had  expressed  approval  of  it  must  be 
deduced  from  the  letter  of  the  i6th  of  September,  1580. 
The  object  was  one  which,  without  doubt,  would  find 
still  warmer  support  from  Lady  Mildred.  But  the  suit 
was  so  unprecedented  that  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at 
that  Burghley  did  not  try  to  force  it  through.  The  work 
was  going  forward  all  the  time — slowly  for  lack  of 
means  and  official  recognition.  Burghley,  generous 
in  his  nature,  lavish  in  private  life,  might,  however,  be 
expected  to  help  a  work  which  he  would  be  glad  to  see 
carried  to  a  successful  conclusion. 

Had  he  been  less  cautious  and  let  young  Francis  have 
his  head,  what  might  not  have  happened  !  But  there 
was  always  the  fear  of  letting  this  huge  intellectual 
power  forge  ahead  without  restraint.  It  was,  however, 
working  out  unseen  its  scheme  and  that,  too,  with 
Burghley's  help  and  that  of  others.  The  period  from 
1576  to  1623 — only  47  years — sees  the  English  language 
developed  from  a  state  of  almost  barbaric  crudeness  to 
the  highest  pitch  which  any  language,  classical  or 
modern,  has  reached.  There  was  but  one  workman 
living  at  that  period  who  could  have  constructed  that 
wonderful  instrument  and  used  it  to  produce  such  mag- 
nificent examples  of  its  possibilities.  It  is  as  reasonable 
to  take  up  a  watch  keeping  perfect  time  and  aver  that 
the  parts  came  together  by  accident,  as  to  contend  that 
the  English  language  of  the  Authorised  Version  of  the 
Bible  and  the  works  of  Shakespeare  were  the  result  of  a 
general  up-springing  of  literary  taste  which  was  diffused 
amongst  a  few  writers  of  very  mediocre  ability.  The 
English  Renaissance  was  conceived  in  France  and  born 
in  England  in  1579.  It  ran  its  course  and  in  1623 
attained  its  maturity ;  but  when  Francis  Bacon  was  no 
more — he  who  had  performed  that  in  our  tongue  which 


BACON  S   SECOND   VISIT,    ETC.  93 

may  be  preferred  either  to  insolent  Greece  or  haughty 
Rome — "things  daily  fall,  wits  grow  downward,  and 
eloquence  grows  backward :  so  that  he  may  be  named 
and  stand  as  the  mark  and  awn  of  our  language." 


94 


CHAPTER  XII. 

IS    IT   PROBABLE    THAT   BACON    LEFT 
MANUSCRIPTS    HIDDEN   AWAY? 

IT  is  difficult  to  leave  this  subject  without  some  refer- 
ence to  the  articles  which  have  appeared  in  the  press 
and  magazines  referring  to  the  suggestion  that  there 
were  left  concealed  literary  remains  of  Bacon  hitherto 
undiscovered. 

In  an  article  which  recently  appeared  in  a  Shake- 
spearean journal,  a  writer  who  evidently  knows  little 
about  the  Elizabethan  period  said  :  "  But  why  should 
Bacon  want  to  bury  manuscripts,  anyhow  ?  Who  does 
bury  manuscripts  ?  Besides,  they  had  been  printed  and 
were,  therefore,  rubbish  and  waste  paper  merely." 
The  manuscript  of  John  Harrington's  translation  of 
Ariosto's  "  Orlando  Furioso "  may  be  seen  in  the 
British  Museum.  It  is  beautifully  written  on  quarto 
paper.  It  was,  apparently,  the  fair  copy  sent  to  the 
printer  from  which  the  type  was  to  be  set  up.  Be  this 
as  it  may,  it  was  undoubtedly  a  copy  upon  which 
Bacon  marked  off  the  verses  which  are  to  go  on  each 
page  and  set  out  the  folio  of  each  page  and  the  printer's 
signature  which  was  to  appear  at  the  bottom.  It  also 
contains  instructions  to  the  printer  as  to  the  type  to  be 
used.  This  manuscript  was  net  considered  "  rubbish 
and  waste  paper  merely." 

Francis  Bacon  has  again  and  again  insisted  upon 
the  value  of  history.  In  the  "  Advancement  of  Learn- 
ing" he  points  out  to  the  King  "the  indignity  and 
unworthiness  of  the  history  of  England  as  it  now  is,  in 
the  main  continuation  thereof."  No  man  appreciated 
as  did  Bacon  the  importance  in  the  history  of  England 


HIDDEN   MANUSCRIPTS.  95 

of  the  epoch  in  which  he  lived.  That  a  truthful 
relation  of  the  events  of  those  times  would  be 
invaluable  to  posterity  he  knew  full  well.  He  of  all  men 
living  at  that  time  was  best  qualified  to  write  such  a 
history.  He  recognised  that  there  were  objections  to  a 
history  being  written,  or,  at  any  rate,  published,  where- 
in the  actions  of  persons  living  were  described,  for  he 
said  "it  must  be  confessed  that  such  kind  of  relations, 
specially  if  they  be  published  about  the  times  of  things 
done,  seeing  very  often  that  they  are  written  with 
passion  or  partiality,  ot  all  other  narrations,  are  most 
suspected."  It  is  hardly  conceivable  that  Bacon  should 
have  failed  to  provide  a  faithful  history  of  his  own  times 
for  the  benefit  of  posterity,  or,  at  any  rate,  that  he  should 
have  failed  to  preserve  the  materials  for  such  a  history. 
Neither  the  history  nor  such  materials  are  known  to  be 
in  existence.  Supposing  Bacon  had  prepared  either  the 
one  or  the  other,  what  could  he  do  with  it?  Hand  it 
to  Rawley  with  instructions  for  it  to  be  printed  ? 
With  a  strong  probability,  if  it  were  a  faithful  history, 
that  it  would  never  be  published,  but  that  it  would  be 
destroyed,  he  would  never  take  such  a  risk.  There 
would  only  be  one  course  open  to  him.  To  conceal  it 
in  some  place  where  it  would  not  be  likely  to  be  dis- 
turbed, in  which  it  might  remain  in  safety,  possibly  for 
hundreds  of  years.  And  then  leave  a  clue  either  in 
cypher  or  otherwise  by  which  it  might  be  recovered. 

It  is  by  no  means  outside  the  range  of  possibility  that 
Bacon  as  early  as  1588  had  opened  a  receptacle  for  books 
and  manuscripts  which  he  desired  should  go  down  to 
posterity,  and  fearing  their  loss  from  any  cause,  he  care- 
fully concealed  them,  adding  to  the  store  from  time  to 
time.  If  he  did  so  he  left  a  problem  to  be  solved,  and 
arranged  the  place  of  concealment  so  that  it  could  only 
be  found  by  a  solution  of  the  problem. 

The  emblems  on  two  title-pages  of  two  books  of  the 
period  are  very  significant.  "  Truth  brought  to  Light 


96  THE    MYSTERY   OF   FRANCIS   BACON. 

and  discovered  by  Time  "  is  a  narrative  history  of  the 
first  fourteen  years  of  King  James'  reign.  One  portion 
of  the  engraved  title-page  represents  a  spreading  tree 
growing  up  out  of  a  coffin,  full  fraught  with  various 
fruits  (manuscripts  and  books)  most  fresh  and  fair  to 
make  succeeding  times  most  rich  and  rare.  In  the 
Emblem  (Fig.  III.)  now  reproduced,  which  is  found  on 
the  title-page  of  the  first  edition  of  "  New  Atlantis," 
1627, *  Truth  personified  by  a  naked  woman  is  being 
revealed  by  Father  Time,  and  the  inscription  round  the 
device  is  "  Tempore  patet  occulta  veritas — in  time  the 
hidden  truth  shall  be  revealed." 

Then,  in  further  confirmation  of  this  view,  there  is 
the  statement  of  Rawley  in  his  introduction  to  the 
"  Manes  Verulamiani."  Speaking  of  the  fame  of  his 
illustrious  master  he  says,  "  Be  this  moreover  enough, 
to  have  laid,  as  it  were,  the  foundations,  in  the  name  of 
the  present  age.  Every  age  will,  methinks,  adorn  and 
amplify  this  structure,  but  to  what  age  it  may  be  vouch- 
safed to  set  the  finishing  hand — this  is  known  only  to 
God  and  the  Fates." 


*  There  is  a  copy  bearing  date  1626. 


97 


Fig.  III. 
From  the  Title  Page  of  "New  Atlantis,"  1627. 


Fig.  IV. 

From  the  Title  Page  of 
Peachains  "Minerva  Britannia,"  1612. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

HOW      THE     ELIZABETHAN      LITERATURE 
WAS     PRODUCED. 

THE  half  century  from  1576  to  1625  stands  by  itself  in 
the  history  of  the  literature  of  this  country.  During  that 
period  not  only  was  the  English  language  made,  not  only 
were  there  produced  the  finest  examples  of  its  capacities, 
which  to-day  exist,  but  the  knowledge  and  wisdom  pos- 
sessed by  the  classical  writers,  the  histories  of  the 
principal  nations  of  the  world,  practically  everything 
that  was  worth  knowing  in  the  literature  which  existed 
in  other  countries  were,  for  the  first  time,  made  avail- 
able in  the  English  tongue.  And  what  is  still  more 
remarkable,  these  translations  were  printed  and  pub- 
lished. These  works  embraced  every  art  and  subject 
which  can  be  imagined.  Further,  during  this  period 
there  were  issued  a  large  number  of  books  crowded  with 
information  upon  general  subjects.  The  names  on  the 
title-pages  of  many  of  these  works  are  unknown.  It  is 
astonishing  how  many  men  as  to  whom  nothing  can 
be  learnt,  appear  about  this  time  to  have  written  one 
book  and  one  book  only. 

These  translations  were  published  at  a  considerable 
cost.  For  such  works,  being  printed  in  the  English 
language,  purchasers  were  practically  confined  to  this 
country,  and  their  number  was  very  limited.  The 
quantity  of  copies  constituting  an  edition  must  have 
been  small.  It  is  impossible  to  believe  that  the  sale  of 
these  books  could  realise  the  amount  of  their  cost. 

Definite  information  on  this  point  is  difficult  to  obtain, 
for  little  is  known  as  to  the  prices  at  which  these  books 
were  sold. 


ELIZABETHAN  LITERATURE.  99 

It  appears  from  the  "  Transcripts  of  the  Stationers' 
Registers"  that  the  maximum  number  of  copies  that 
went  to  make  up  an  edition  was  in  the  interest  of  the 
workman  fixed  at  1,250  copies,  so  that  if  a  larger 
number  were  required  the  type  had  to  be  re-set  for  each 
additional  1,250  copies.  Double  impressions  of  2,500 
were  allowed  of  primers,  catechisms,  proclamations, 
statutes  and  almanacs.  But  the  solid  literature  which 
came  into  the  language  at  this  period  would  not  be 
required  in  such  quantities.  The  printer  was  not  usually 
the  vendor  of  the  books.  The  publisher  and  bookseller 
or  stationer  carried  on  in  most  cases  a  distinct  business. 

Pamphlets,  sermons,  plays,  books  of  poems,  formed 
the  staple  ware  of  the  stationer.  The  style  of  the  book 
out  of  which  the  stationer  made  his  money  may  be 
gathered  from  the  following  extract  from  The  Return 
from  Parnassus,  Act  I,  scene  3  : — 

Ingcnioso. — Danter  thou  art  deceived,  wit  is  dearer  than  thou 
takest  it  to  bee.  I  tell  thee  this  libel  cf  Cambridge 
has  much  salt  and  pepper  in  the  nose  :  it  will  sell 
sheerely  underhand  when  all  those  bookes  of  exhor- 
tations and  catechisms  lie  moulding  on  thy  shop- 
board. 

Danter. — It's  true,  but  good  fayth,  M.  Ingenioso,  I  lost  by  your 
last  booke  ;  and  you  know  there  is  many  a  one  that 
pays  me  largely  for  the  printing  of  their  inventions, 
but  for  all  this  you  shall  have  40  shillings  and  an 
odde  pottle  of  wine. 

Ingenioso. — 40  shillings  ?  a  fit  reward  for  one  of  your  reumatick 
poets,  that  beslavers  all  the  paper  he  comes  by, 
and  furnishes  the  Chaundlers  with  wast  papers  to 
wrap  candles  in  :  ...  it's  the  gallantest  Child  my  inven- 
tion was  ever  delivered  off.  The  title  is,  a  Chronicle 
of  Cambridge  Cuckolds  ;  here  a  man  may  see,  what 
day  of  the  moneth  such  a  man's  commons  were  in- 
closed, and  when  throwne  open,  and  when  any 
entayled  some  odde  crownes  upon  the  heires  of  their 
bodies  unlawfully  begotten  ;  speake  quickly,  ells  I 
am  gone. 


IOO       THE  MYSTERY  OF  FRANCIS  BACON. 

Dantcr.—Qh  this  will  sell  gallantly.  He  have  it  whatsoever  it 
cost,  will  you  walk  on,  M.  Ingenioso,  weele  sit  over 
a  cup  of  wine  and  agree  on  it. 

The  publication  of  such  works  as  Hollingshed's 
"Chronicles,"  North's  "Plutarch's  Lives,1'  Grimston's 
"History  of  France,"  and  "The  French  Academy," 
could  not  have  been  produced  with  profit  as  the  object. 
A  large  body  of  evidence  may  be  brought  forward  to 
support  this  view,  but  space  will  only  permit  two 
examples  to  be  here  set  forth. 

In  the  dedication  to  Sir  William  Cecil,  of  Holling- 
shed's "  Chronicles,"  1587,  the  writer  says  : 

Yet  when  the  volume  grew  so  great  as  they  that  were  to  defraie 
the  charges  for  the  impression  were  not  willing  to  go  through 
with  the  whole,  they  resolved  first  to  publish  the  histories  of 
England,  Scotland,  and  Ireland  with  their  descriptions. 

John  Dee  spent  most  of  the  year  1576  in  writing  a 
series  of  volumes  to  be  entitled  "  General  and  Rare 
Memorials  pertayning  to  the  perfect  Art  of  Navigation." 
In  1577  the  first  volume  was  ready  for  the  press.  In 
June  he  had  to  borrow  £40  from  one  friend,  £20  from 
another,  and  £27  upon  "the  chayn  of  gold."  In  the 
following  August  John  Day  commenced  printing  it  at 
his  press  in  Aldersgate.  The  title  was  "The  British 
Monarchy  or  Hexameron  Brytannicum,"  and  the  edition 
consisted  of  100  copies. 

The  second  volume,  "  The  British  Complement,"  was 
ready  in  the  following  December.  It  was  never  pub- 
lished. Dee  states  in  his  Diary  that  the  printing  would 
cost  many  hundreds  of  pounds,  as  it  contained  tables 
and  figures,  and  he  must  first  have  "a  comfortable 
and  sufficient  opportunity  or  supply  thereto."  This  he 
was  unable  to  procure,  so  the  book  remained  in  manu- 
script.* 

•  "  John  Dee,"  by  Charlotte  Fell  Smith,  1909.  Constable  and 
Co.,  Ltd. 


ELIZABETHAN   LITERATURE.  101 

Books  of  this  class  were  never  produced  with  the 
object  of  making  profit.  The  proceeds  of  sale  would 
not  cover  the  cost  of  printing  and  publishing,  without 
any  provision  for  the  remuneration  of  the  translator  or 
author.  Why  were  they  published,  and  how  was  the 
cost  provided? 

There  was,  however,  another  source  of  revenue  open 
to  the  author  of  a  book.  Henry  Peacham,  in  "  The 
Truth  of  our  Time,"  says : — 

"  But  then  you  may  say,  the  Dedication  will  bee  worth  a  great 
matter,  either  in  present  reward  of  money,  or  preferment  by  your 
Patrones  Letter,  or  other  means.  And  for  this  purpose  you  pre- 
fixe  a  learned  and  as  Panegyricall  Epistle  as  can,"  etc. 

It  is  beyond  question  that  an  author  usually  obtained 
a  considerable  contribution  towards  the  cost  of  the  pro- 
duction of  a  book  from  the  person  to  whom  the  dedica- 
tion was  addressed.  A  number  of  books  published 
during  the  period  from  1576  to  1598  are  dedicated  to 
the  Queen,  to  the  Earl  of  Leicester,  and  to  Lord 
Burghley.  One  can  only  offer  a  suggestion  on  this 
point  which  may  or  may  not  be  correct.  If  Francis 
Bacon  was  concerned  in  the  issue  of  these  translations 
and  other  works,  and  Burghley  was  assisting  him 
financially,  it  is  probable  that  Burghley  would  procure 
grants  from  the  Queen  in  respect  of  books  which  were 
dedicated  to  her,  and  would  provide  funds  towards  the 
cost  of  such  books  as  were  dedicated  to  himself.  "  The 
Arte  of  English  Poesie  "  was  written  with  the  intention 
that  it  should  be  dedicated  to  the  Queen,  but  there 
was  a  change  in  the  plans,  and  Burghley's  name  was 
substituted.  When  Bacon,  in  1591,  is  threatening  to 
become  "  a  sorry  bookmaker,"  he  describes  Burghley 
as  the  second  founder  of  his  poor  estate,  and  uses  the 
expression,  "  If  your  Lordship  will  not  carry  me  on," 
which  can  only  mean  that  as  to  the  matter  which  is 
the  subject  of  the  letter,  Burghley  had  not  merely  been 


IO2  THE   MYSTERY   OF   FRANCIS    BACON. 

assisting  but  carrying  him.  The  evidence  which  exists 
is  strong  enough  to  warrant  putting  forward  this  theory 
as  to  the  frequency  of  the  names  of  the  Queen  and 
Burghley  on  the  dedications. 

The  Earl  of  Leicester  desired  to  have  the  reputation 
of  being  a  patron  of  the  arts,  and  was  willing  to  pay 
for  advertisement.  He  was  the  Chancellor  of  Oxford 
University,  and  evidently  recognised  the  value  of  print- 
ing, for  in  1585  he  erected,  at  his  own  expense,  a  new 
printing  press  for  the  use  of  the  University.  If  he  paid 
at  all  for  dedications  he  would  pay  liberally.  But, 
of  course,  the  Queen,  Burghley,  and  Leicester  were 
accessible  to  others  besides  Bacon,  and  the  argument 
goes  no  further  than  that  towards  the  production  of 
certain  books  upon  which  their  names  appear  the 
patrons  provided  part  of  the  cost.  The  recognition  of 
this  fact,  however,  does  not  detract  from  the  import- 
ance of  the  expressions  used  by  Bacon  in  his  letter  to 
Burghley. 

There  is  abundant  testimony  to  the  fact  that  it  was 
the  custom,  during  the  Elizabethan  age,  for  an  author 
to  suppress  his  own  name,  and  on  the  title-page  *  sub- 
stitute either  the  initials  or  name  of  some  other  person. 
The  title-pages  of  this  period  are  as  unreliable  as  are 
the  names  or  initials  affixed  to  the  dedications  and 
epistles  "To  the  Reader." 

In  1624  was  published  "  The  Historie  of  the  Life  and 
Death  of  Mary  Stuart  Queene  of  Scotland."  The  dedi- 
cation is  signed  Wil  Stranguage.  In  1636  it  was  re- 
printed, the  same  dedication  being  signed  W.  Vdall. 
There  are  numerous  similar  instances. 


0  See  page  31. 


J03 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

THE    CLUE     TO     THE     MYSTERY    OF 
BACON'S     LIFE. 

THE  theory  now  put  forward  is  based  upon  the  assump- 
tion that  Francis  Bacon  at  a  very  early  age  adopted  the 
conception  that  he  would  devote  his  life  to  the  con- 
struction of  an  adequate  language  and  literature  for  his 
country  and  that  he  would  do  this  remaining  invisible. 
If  he  was  the  author  of  "The  Anatomic  of  the  Mind," 
1576,  and  of  "  Beautiful  Blossoms,"  1577,  he  must  have 
adopted  this  plan  of  obscurity  as  early  as  his  sixteenth 
year.  It  is  possible,  however,  that  it  may  be  shown 
that  at  a  date  still  earlier  he  had  decided  upon  this  course. 
This,  however,  is  beyond  doubt — that  if  Francis  Bacon 
was  associated  in  any  way  with  the  literature  of 
England  from  1570  to  1605,  with  the  exception  of  the 
small  volume  of  essays  published  in  1597,  he  most  care- 
fully concealed  his  connection  with  it. 

"Therefore,  set  it  down,"  he  says  in  the  essay  Of 
Simulation  and  Dissimulation,  "  that  a  habit  of  secrecy 
is  both  politic  and  moral,"  and  in  Examples  of  the  Anti- 
theta,*  "  Dissimulation  is  a  compendious  wisdome." 
Here  again  is  the  same  idea :  "  Beside  in  all  wise 
humane  Government,  they  that  sit  at  the  helme,  doe 
more  happily  bring  their  purposes  about,  and  insinuate 
more  easily  things  fit  for  the  people  by  pretexts,  and 
oblique  courses ;  than  by  ...  downright  dealing. 
Nay  (which  perchance  may  seem  very  strange)  in  things 
meerely  naturall,  you  may  sooner  deceive  nature  than 
force  her ;  so  improper  and  selfeimpeaching  are  open 
direct  proceedings ;  whereas  on  the  other  side,  an 

0  "  Of  the  Advancement  of  Learning,"  1640,  page  312. 


104  THE   MYSTERY   OF   FRANCIS    BACON. 

oblique  and  an  insinuating  way,  gently  glides  along,  and 
compasseth  the  intended  effect."* 

It  is  noteworthy  that  Bacon  had  a  quaint  conceit  of 
the  Divine  Being  which  he  was  never  tired  of  repeating. 
In  the  preface  to  the  "Advancement  of  Learning" 
(1640),  the  following  passage  occurs  : — 

"  For  of  the  knowledges  which  contemplate  the  works  of  Nature, 
the  holy  Philosopher  hath  said  expressly  ;  that  the  glory  of  God  is 
to  conceal  a  thing,  but  the  glory  of  the  King  is  to  find  it  out  : 
as  if  the  Divine  Nature,  according  io  the  innocent  and  sweet  play  of 
children,  which  hide  themselves  to  the  end  they  may  be  found  ;  took 
delight  to  hide  his  works,  to  the  end  they  might  be  found  out ;  and  of 
his  indulgence  and  goodness  to  mankind,  had  chosen  the  Soulc  of 
man  to  be  his  Play-fellow  in  this  game." 

Again  on  page  45  of  the  work  itself  he  says  : — 

<;  For  so  he  (King  Solomon)  saith  expressly,  The  Glory  of  God 
is  to  conceale  a  thing,  but  the  Glory  of  a  King  is  to  find  it  out.  As 
if  according  to  that  innocent  and  affectionate  play  of  children, 
the  Divine  Majesty  took  delight  to  hide  his  works,  to  the  end  to 
have  them  found  out,  and  as  if  Kings  could  not  obtain  a  greater 
Honour,  then  to  be  God's  play-fellowes  in  that  game,  especially 
considering  the  great  command  they  have  of  wits  and  means, 
whereby  the  investigation  of  all  things  may  be  perfected." 

Another  phase  of  the  same  idea  is  to  be  found  on 
page  136. 

In  the  author's  preface  to  the  "  Novum  Organum  " 
the  following  passage  occurs  : — 

"  Whereas  of  the  sciences  which  regard  nature  the  Holy 
Philosopher  declares  that  '  it  is  the  glory  of  God  to  conceal  a 
thing,  but  it  is  the  glory  of  the  King  to  find  it  out.'  Even  as 
though  the  Divine  Nature  took  pleasure  in  the  innocent  and 
kindly  sport  of  children  playing  at  hide  and  seek,  and  vouched- 
safe  of  his  kindness  and  goodness  to  admit  the  human  spirit  for 
his  play  fellow  in  that  game." 

In    almost     identical    words     Bacon     suggests    the 
0  "Of  the  Advancement  of  Learning,"  1640,  pages  115,  116. 


THE   CLUE   TO  THE   MYSTERY.  105 

same  conception  in  "In  Valerius  Terminus"  and  in 
"  Filum  Labyrinthi." 

In  the  Epistle  Dedicatorie  of  "  The  French  Academic  " 
and  elsewhere  the  author  is  insisting  on  the  same  idea 
that  "  He  (God)  cannot  be  seene  of  any  mortal  crea- 
ture but  is  notwithstanding  known  by  his  works." 

The  close  connection  of  Francis  Bacon  with  the 
works  (now  seldom  studied)  of  the  Emblem  writers  is 
vouched  for  by  J.  Baudoin. 

Oliver  Lector  in  "  Letters  from  the  Dead  to  the  Dead  " 
has  given  examples  of  his  association  with  the  Dutch 
and  French  emblem  writers.  Three  Englishmen  appear 
to  have  indulged  in  this  fascinating  pursuit — George 
Whitney  (1589),  Henry  Peacham  (1612),  and  George 
Withers  (1634).  From  the  Baconian  point  of  view 
Peacham's  "  Minerva  Britannia "  is  by  far  the  most 
interesting.  The  Emblem  on  page  34  is  addressed 
"To  the  most  judicious  and  learned,  SIR  FRANCIS 
BACON  Knight."  On  the  opposite  leaf,  paged  thus,  '33,* 
the  design  represents  a  hand  holding  a  spear  as  in  the 
act  ot  shaking  it.  But  it  is  the  frontispiece  which 
bears  specially  on  the  present  contention.  The  design 
is  now  reproduced  (Fig.  IV).  A  curtain  is  drawn  to  hide 
a  figure,  the  hand  only  of  which  is  protruding.  It  has 
just  written  the  words  "  MENTE  VIDEBOR  " — "  By  the 
mind  I  shall  be  seen."  Around  the  scroll  are  the  words 
"  Vivitur  ingenio  cetera  mortis  erunt " — one  lives  in 
one's  genius,  other  things  shall  be  (or  pass  away)  in 
death. 

That  emblem  represents  the  secret  of  Francis  Bacon's 
life.  At  a  very  early  age,  probably  before  he  was 
twelve,  he  had  conceived  the  idea  that  he  would  imitate 
God,  that  he  would  hide  his  works  in  order  that  they 
might  be  found  out — that  he  would  be  seen  only  by  his 
mind  and  that  his  image  should  be  concealed.  There 

0  33  is  the  numercial  value  of  the  name  "  Bacon."  The  stop 
preceding  it  denotes  cypher. 


106  THE   MYSTERY   OF  FRANCIS    BACON. 

was  no  haphazard  work  about  it.  It  was  not  simply 
that  having  written  poems  or  plays,  and  desiring  not  to 
be  known  as  the  author  on  publishing  them,  he  put 
someone  else's  name  on  the  title-page.  There  was  first 
the  conception  of  the  idea,  and  then  the  carefully- 
elaborated  scheme  for  carrying  it  out. 

There  are  numerous  allusions  in  Elizabethan  and 
early  Jacobean  literature  to  someone  who  was  active  in 
literary  matters  but  preferred  to  remain  unrecognised. 
Amongst  these  there  are  some  which  directly  refer  to 
Francis  Bacon,  others  which  occur  in  books  or  under 
circumstances  which  suggest  association  with  him.  It 
is  not  contended  that  they  amount  to  direct  testimony, 
but  the  cumulative  force  of  this  evidence  must  not  be 
ignored.  In  some  of  the  emblem  books  of  the  period 
these  allusions  are  frequent. 

Then  there  is  John  Owen's  epigram  appearing  in  his 
"Epigrammatum,"  published  in  1612. 

AD.  D.B. 

"  Si  bene  qui  latuit,  bene  vixit,  tu  bene  vivis  : 

Ingeniumque  tuum  grande  latendo  patet." 
"  Thou  livest  well  if  one  well  hid  well  lives, 
And  thy  great  genius  in  being  concealed  is  revealed." 

D.  is  elsewhere  used  by  Owen  as  the  initial  of 
Dominus.  The  suggestion  that  Ad.  D.B.  represents 
Ad  Dominum  Baconum  is  therefore  reasonable. 

Thomas  Powell  published  in  1630  the  "  Attourney's 
Academy."  The  book  is  dedicated  "To  True  Nobility 
and  Tryde  learning  beholden  To  no  Mountaine  for 
Eminence,  nor  supportment  for  Height,  Francis,  Lord 
Verulam  and  Viscount  St.  Albanes."  Then  follow 
these  lines : — 

"  O  Give  me  leave  to  pull  the  Curtaine  by 
That  clouds  thy  Worth  in  such  obscurity. 
Good  Seneca,  stay  but  a  while  thy  bleeding, 


THE   CLUE   TO  THE   MYSTERY.  107 

T'  accept  what  I  received  at  thy  Reading  : 

Here  I  present  it  in  a  solernne  strayne, 

And  thus  I  pluckt  the  Curtayne  backe  again." 

In  the  "  Mirrour  of  State  and  Eloquence,"  published 
in  1656,  the  frontispiece  is  a  very  bad  copy  of  Marshall's 
portrait  of  Bacon  prefixed  to  the  1640  Gilbert  Wat's 
"Advancement  of  Learning."  Under  it  are  these 
lines : — 

"  Grace,  Honour,  virtue,  Learning,  witt, 
Are  all  within  this  Porture  knitt 
And  left  to  time  that  it  may  tell, 
What  worth  within  this  Peere  did  dwell." 

The  frontispiece  previously  referred  to  of  "  Truth 
brought  to  Light  and  discovered  by  Time,  or  a  discourse 
and  Historicall  narration  of  the  first  XIIII.  yeares  of 
King  James  Reign,"  published  in  1651,  is  full  of  cryptic 
meaning  and  in  one  section  of  it  there  is  a  representa- 
tion of  a  coffin  out  of  which  is  growing 

"  A  spreading  Tree 

Full  fraught  with  various  Fruits  most  fresh  and  fair 
To  make  succeeding  Times  most  rich  and  rare." 

The  fruits  are  books  and  manuscripts.  The  volume 
contains  speeches  of  Bacon  and  copies  of  official  docu- 
ments signed  by  him. 

The  books  of  the  emblem  writers  are  still  more 
remarkable.  "Jacobi  Bornitii  Emblemata  Ethico 
Politica,"  1659,  contains  at  least  a  dozen  plates  in 
which  Bacon  is  represented.  A  suggestive  emblem  is 
No.  i  of  Cornelii  Giselberti  Plempii  Amsterodarnum 
Monogrammon,  bearing  date  1616,  the  year  of  Shake- 
peare's  death.  It  is  now  reproduced  (Fig.  V.).  It  will 
be  observed  that  the  initial  letters  of  each  word  in  the 
sentence  —  Obsccenumque  nimis  crepuit  Fortuna  Batavis 
appellanda — yield  F.  Bacon.  There  are  in  other  designs 
figures  which  are  evidently  intended  to  represent 
Bacon.  Emblem  XXXVI.  shows  the  inside  of  a 


108  THE   MYSTERY    OF   FRANCIS   BACON. 

printer's  shop  and  two  men  at  work  in  the  foreground 
blacking  and  fixing  the  type.  Behind  is  a  workman 
setting  type,  and  standing  beside  him,  apparently 
directing,  or  at  any  rate  observing  him,  is  a  man  with 
the  well-known  Bacon  hat  on. 

The  contention  may  be  stated  thus : — Francis 
Bacon  possessed,  to  quote  Macaulay,  "the  most 
exquisitely  constructed  intellect  that  has  ever  been 
bestowed  on  any  of  the  children  of  men."  Hallam 
described  him  as  "the  wisest,  greatest  of  mankind," 
and  affirmed  that  he  might  be  compared  to  Aristotle, 
Thucydides,  Tacitus,  Philippe  de  Comines,  Machiavelli, 
Davila,  Hume,  "all  of  these  together,"  and  confirming 
this  view  Addison  said  that  "  he  possessed  at  once  all 
those  extraordinary  talents  which  were  divided  amongst 
the  greatest  authors  of  antiquity."  At  twelve  years  of 
age  in  industry  he  surpassed  the  capacity,  and,  in  his 
mind,  the  range  of  his  contemporaries,  and  had  acquired 
a  thorough  command  of  the  classical  and  modern 
languages.  "He,  after  he  had  survaied  all  the  Records 
of  Antiquity,  after  the  volumes  of  men,  betook  himself 
to  the  volume  of  the  world  and  conquered  whatever 
books  possest."  Having,  whilst  still  a  youth,  taken  all 
knowledge  to  be  his  province,  he  had  read,  marked,  and 
absorbed  the  contents  of  nearly  every  book  that  had 
been  printed.  How  that  boy  read  !  Points  of  import- 
ance he  underlined  and  noted  in  the  margin.  Every 
subject  he  mastered  —  mathematics,  geometry,  music, 
poetry,  painting,  astronomy,  astrology,  classical  drama 
and  poetry,  philosophy,  history,  theology,  architecture. 

Then — or  perhaps  before — came  this  marvellous  con- 
ception, "  Like  God  I  will  be  seen  by  my  works, 
although  my  image  shall  never  be  visible  —  M'ente 
videbor.  By  the  mind  I  shall  be  seen."  So  equipped, 
and  with  such  a  scheme,  he  commenceed  and  success- 
fully carried  through  that  colossal  enterprise  in  which 
he  sought  the  good  of  all  men,  though  in  a  despised 


THE  CLUE   TO  THE   MYSTERY.  109 

weed.  "  This,"  he  said,  "  whether  it  be  curiosity  or 
vainglory,  or  (if  one  takes  it  favourably)  philanthropia, 
is  so  fixed  in  my  mind  as  it  cannot  be  removed." 

Translations  of  the  classics,  of  histories,  and  other 
works  were  made.  In  those  he  no  doubt  had  assistance 
by  the  commandment  of  more  wits  than  his  own,  which 
is  a  thing  he  greatly  affected.  Books  came  from  his 
pen — poetry  and  prose — at  a  rate  which,  when  the  truth 
is  revealed,  will  literally  "  stagger  humanity."  Books 
were  written  by  others  under  his  direction.  He  saw 
them  through  the  press,  and  he  did  more.  He  had 
his  own  wood  blocks  of  devices,  some,  at  any  rate,  of 
which  were  his  own  design,  and  every  book  produced 
under  his  direction,  whether  written  by  him  or  not, 
was  marked  by  the  use  of  one  or  more  of  these  wood 
blocks.  The  favourite  device  was  the  light  A  and  the 
dark  A.  Probably  the  first  book  published  in  England 
which  was  marked  with  this  device  was  De  Rep. 
Anglorum  Instauranda  libri  decent,  Authore  Thotna 
Chalonero  Equite,  Anglo.  This  was  printed  by  Thomas 
Vautrollerius,*  and  bears  date  1579. 

Vautrollier,  and  afterwards  Richard  Field,  printed 
many  of  the  books  in  the  issue  of  which  Bacon  was  con- 
cerned from  1579  onwards.  Henry  Bynneman,  and 
afterwards  his  assignees  Ralph  Newbery  and  Henry 
Denham  and  George  Bishop,  who  was  associated  with 
Denham,  were  also  printing  books  issued  under  his 

*  Vautrollier  was  a  scholar  and  printer  who  came  to  England 
from  Paris  or  Roan  about  the  beginning  of  Elizabeth's  reign,  and 
first  commenced  business  in  Blackfriars.  In  1584  he  printed 
Jordanus  Brunus,  for  which  he  was  compelled  to  fly.  In  the  next 
year  he  was  in  Edinburgh,  where,  by  his  help,  Scottish  printing 
was  greatly  improved.  Eventually  his  pardon  was  procured  by 
powerful  friends,  amongst  whom  was  Thomas  Randolph.  In 
1588  Richard  Field,  who  was  apprenticed  to  Vautrollier,  married 
Jakin,  his  daughter,  and  on  his  death  in  1589  succeeded  to  the 
business. 


IIO  THE    MYSTERY   OF   FRANCIS 

auspices,  and  later  Adam  Islip,  George  Eld  and  James 
Haviland  came  in  for  a  liberal  share  of  his  patronage. 

The  cost  of  printing  and  publishing  must  have  been 
very  great.  If  the  facts  ever  come  to  light  it  will  pro- 
bably be  found  that  Burghley  was  Bacon's  mainstay  for 
financial  support.  It  will  also  be  found  that  Lady  Anne 
Bacon  and  Anthony  Bacon  were  liberal  contributors  to 
the  funds,  and  that  the  cause  of  Francis  Bacon's 
monetary  difficulties  and  consequent  debts  was  the 
heavy  obligation  which  he  personally  undertook  in  con- 
nection with  the  production  of  the  Elizabethan 
literature. 

In  the  Dedications,  Prefaces,  and  Epistles  "To  the 
Reader"  also  Francis  Bacon's  mind  may  be  recognised. 
When  Addison  wrote  of  Bacon,  "  One  does  not  know 
which  to  admire  most  in  his  writings,  the  strength  of 
reason,  force  of  style,  or  brightness  of  imagination," 
his  words  might  have  been  inspired  by  these  prefixes 
to  the  literature  of  this  period.  When  once  the  student 
has  made  himself  thoroughly  acquainted  with  Bacon's 
style  of  writing  prefaces  he  can  never  fail  to  recognise 
it,  especially  if  he  reads  the  passages  aloud.  The 
Epistle  Dedicatorie  to  the  1625  edition  of  Barclay's 
"  Argenis,"  signed  Kingesmill  Long,  is  one  of  the  finest 
examples  of  Baconian  English  extant.  Who  but  the 
writer  of  the  Shakespeare  plays  could  have  written  that 
specimen  of  musical  language  ?  To  hear  it  read  aloud 
gives  all  the  enjoyment  of  listening  to  a  fine  composition 
of  music.  It  is  the  same  with  the  Shakespeare  plays  ; 
only  when  they  are  read  aloud  can  the  richness  and 
charm  of  the  language  they  contain  be  appreciated. 

Bacon's  work  can  never  be  understood  by  anyone  who 
has  not  realised  the  marvellous  character  of  the  mind  of 
the  boy,  his  phenomenal  industry,  and  the  fact  that  "he 
could  imagine  like  a  poet  and  execute  like  a  clerk  of  the 
works."  It  has  been  suggested  that  he  had  a  secret 
Society,  by  the  agency  of  which  he  carried  through  his 


'THE   CLUE   TO  THE   MYSTERY.  Ill 

V  ^ 

works,  out  it  is  difficult  to  find  any  evidence  that  such 
a  Society  existed.  It  may  be  that  he  had  helpers  with- 
,out  there  having  been  anything  of  the  nature  of  a 
Society. 

From  1575  to  1605  (thirty  years)  with  the  exception 
of  the  trifles  published  as  Essays  in  1597,  there  are  no 
acknowledged  fruits  of  his  work  to  which  his  name  is 
attached.  Even  the  two  books  of  the  "Advancement 
of  Learning,"  published  in  1605,  would  have  made  little 
demands  on  his  time.  Edmund  Burke  said  :  "  Who  is 
there  that  hearing  the  name  of  Bacon  does  not  instantly 
recognise  everything  of  genius  the  most  profound,  of 
literature  the  most  extensive,  of  discovery  the  most 
penetrating,  of  observation  of  human  life  the  most  dis- 
tinguished and  refined."  For  such  a  man  to  write  "  The 
two  books  "  would  be  no  hard  or  lengthy  task. 

The  wonder  is  that  Francis  Bacon  should  have 
attached  his  name  to  the  1597  edition  of  the  essays.  He 
had  written  and  published  under  other  names  tomes  of 
essays  of  at  least  equal  merit.  In  Aphorism  128  of 
the  "  Novum  Organum  "  Bacon  says,  "  But  how  sincere 
I  am  in  my  profession  of  affection  and  goodwill  towards 
the  received  sciences  my  published  writings,  especially 
the  books  on  the  Advancement  of  Learning,  sufficiently 
shew."  What  are  the  published  writings  referred  to? 
The  only  works  which  bore  his  name  were  the  incom- 
plete volume  , of  the  Essays  and  the  "Wisdom  of  the 
Ancients,"  to  neither  of  which  the  words  quoted  are 
applicable. 

Anthony  Bacon,  writing  to  Lady  Anne  in  April,  1593, 
referring  to  her  "  motherly  offer  "  to  help  Francis  out 
of  debt  by  being  content  to  bestow  the  whole  interest 
in  an  estate  in  Essex,  called  Markes,  said  "beseeching 
you  to  believe  that  being  so  near  and  dear  unto  me  as 
he  is,  it  cannot  but  be  a  grief  unto  me  to  see  a  mind 
that  hath  given  so  sufficient  proof  of  itself  in  having 
brought  forth  many  good  thoughts  for  the  general  to  be 


112  THE   MYSTERY   OF  FRANCIS   BACON. 

overburdened  and  cumbered  with  a  care  of  clearing  his 
particular  estate." 

In  1593  nothing  had  been  published  under  Bacon's 
name,  and  there  is  not  any  production  of  his  known 
which  would  justify  Anthony's  remark.  What  was  his 
motive  in  selecting  this  insignificant  little  volume  of 
essays  whereby  to  proclaim  himself  a  writer?  One  can 
understand  his  object  in  addressing  James  in  The  Two 
Books  of  the  Advancement  of  Learning,  He  obtained  in 
1606,  as  Peacham  has  it,  "  preferment  by  his  Patrone's 
letter  "  by  being  appointed  Solicitor-General. 

During  all  this  period — 1575  to  1605 — "the  most 
exquisitely  constructed  mind  that  has  ever  been  bestowed 
on  any  of  the  children  of  men  "  appears  to  have  been 
dormant.  Take  the  first  three  volumes  of  Spedding's 
"  Life  and  Letters,"  and  carefully  note  all  that  is  recorded 
as  the  product  of  that  mind  during  the  years  when  it 
must  have  been  at  the  zenith  of  its  power  and  activity. 
All  the  letters  and  tracts  accredited  to  Bacon  in  them 
which  have  come  down  to  us  would  not  account  for 
six  months — not  for  three  months — of  its  occupation. 

The  explanation  that  he  was  building  up  his  great 
system  of  inductive  philosophy  is  quite  inadequate. 
Rawley  speaks  of  the  "  Novum  Organum  "  as  having 
been  in  hand  for  twelve  years.  This  would  give  1608 
as  the  year  when  it  was  commenced.  The  "  Cogitata 
et  Visa,"  of  which  it  was  an  amplification,  was  prob- 
ably written  in  1606  or  1607,  for  on  the  I7th  February, 
1607-8,  Bodley  writes  acknowledging  the  receipt  of  it 
and  commenting  on  it. 

Rawley  says  that  it  was  during  the  last  five  years 
of  Bacon's  life  that  he  composed  the  greatest  part  of 
his  books  and  writings  both  in  English  and  Latin, 
and  supplies  a  list  which  comprises  all  his  acknow- 
ledged published  works  except  the  "  Novum  Organum  " 
and  the  Essays. 

In    "  The    Statesmen    and    Favourites   of   England 


THE  CLUE  TO  THE  MYSTERY.         113 

since  the  Reformation,"  it  is  stated  that  the  universal 
knowledge  and  comprehension  of  things  rendered  Fran- 
cis Bacon  the  observation  of  great  and  wise  men,  and 
afterward  the  wonder  of  all.  Yet  it  is  remarkable 
how  few  are  the  references  to  him  amongst  his  con- 
temporaries. Practically  the  only  one  that  would 
enable  a  reader  to  gain  any  knowledge  of  his  person- 
ality is  Francis  Osborn,  who,  in  letters  to  his  son, 
published  in  1658,  describes  him  as  he  was  in  the  last 
few  years  of  his  life.  No  one  has  left  data  which 
enables  a  clear  impression  to  be  formed  of  Francis 
Bacon  as  he  was  up  to  his  fortieth  year.  The  omis- 
sion may  be  described  as  a  conspiracy  of  silence.  How 
exactly  the  circumstances  appear  to  fit  in  with  the  first 
line  of  John  Owen's  epigram  to  Dominus  B.,  pub- 
lished in  1612  ! — "  Thou  livest  well  if  one  well  hid 
well  lives  " ;  and  if  the  suggestion  now  put  forward  be 
correct  that  Bacon  deliberately  resolved  that  his  image 
and  personality  should  never  be  seen,  but  only  the  fruits 
of  his  mind — the  issues  of  his  brain,  to  use  Rawley's 
expression — how  apt  is  the  second  line  of  the  epigram  : 
"  And  thy  great  genius  in  being  concealed,  is  revealed." 


CHAPTER  XV. 
BURGHLEY    AND    BACON. 

THERE  was  published  in  1732  "The  Life  of  the  Great 
Statesman  William  Cecil,  Lord  Burghley."  The 
preface  signed  by  Arthur  Collins  states  : — 

The  work  I  have  for  several  years  engaged  in,  of  treating 
of  those  families  that  have  been  Barons  of  this  Kingdom, 
necessarily  induced  me  to  apply  to  our  Nobility  for  such  helps, 
as  might  illustrate  the  memory  of  their  ancestors.  And  several 
Noblemen  having  favour'd  me  with  the  perusal  of  their  family 
evidences,  and  being  recommended  to  the  Right  Honourable  the 
present  Earl  of  Exeter,  his  Lordship  out  of  just  regard  to  the 
memory  of  his  great  Ancestor,  was  pleased  to  order  the  manu- 
script Life  of  the  Lord  Burghley  to  be  communicated  to  me. 

Which  being  very  old  and  decayed  and  only  legible  to  such 
who  are  versed  in  ancient  writings  it  was  with  great  satisfaction 
that  I  copied  it  literatim.  And  that  it  may  not  be  lost  to  the 
world,  I  now  offer  it  to  the  view  of  the  publick.  It  fully  appears 
to  be  wrote  in  the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth  soon  after  his  Lord- 
ship's death,  by  one  who  was  intimate  with  him,  and  an  eye 
witness  of  his  actions  for  the  last  twenty-five  years.  It  needs  no 
comment  to  set  it  off  ;  that  truth  and  sincerity  which  shines 
through  the  whole,  will,  I  don't  doubt  have  the  same  weight  with 
the  Readers  as  it  had  with  me  and  that  they  will  be  of  opinion 
it's  too  valuable  to  be  buried  in  oblivion. 

This  "  Life  of  Lord  Burghley  "  is  referred  to  by  Nares 
and  other  of  his  biographers  as  having  been  written  by 
"a  domestic."  It  contains  about  16,000  words  and  is 
the  most  authentic  account  extant  of  the  great  states- 
man's life.  The  narrative  is  full,  but  the  observations 
on  the  character  and  habits  of  Burghley  are  by  far  the 
most  important  feature.  The  method  of  treatment  of 
the  subject  is  after  Bacon's  style  ;  the  Life  abounds 
with  phrases  and  with  tricks  of  diction,  which  enable  it 


BURGHLEY   AND   BACON.  115 

to  be  identified  as  his.    The  concluding  sentences  could 
only  have  been  written  with  Bacon's  pen  : — 

And  so  leaving  his  soule  with  God,  his  fame  to  the  world,  and 
the  truth  to  all  charitable  mynds,  I  leave  the  sensure  to  all 
judicious  Christians,  who  truly  practising  what  they  professe.  will 
better  approve,  and  more  indifferentlie  interpret  it,  than  envie  or 
malice  can  disprove  it.  The  best  sort  will  ever  doe  right,  the 
worst  can  but  imagine  mischief  and  doe  wrong ;  yet  this  is  a 
comfort,  the  more  his  virtues  are  troden  downe,  the  more  will 
theire  brightnes  appeare.  Virtus  vulnerata  virescit. 

In  1592  the  "  Responsio  ad  edictum  Reginae  Angliae  " 
of  the  Jesuit  Parsons  had  appeared,  attacking  the  Queen 
and  her  advisers  (especially  Burghley),  to  whom  were 
attributed  all  the  evils  of  England  and  the  disturbances 
of  Christendom.  The  reply  to  this  was  entrusted  to 
Francis  Bacon,  who  responded  with  a  pamphlet  en- 
titled "  Certain  observations  upon  a  libel  published  this 
present  year,  1592."  It  was  first  printed  by  Dr.  Rawley 
in  the  "  Resuscitatio "  in  1657.  At  the  time  it  was 
written  it  was  circulated  largely  in  manuscript,  for  at 
least  eight  copies,  somewhat  varying  from  each  other, 
have  been  preserved.*  It  is  quite  possible  that  it  was 
printed  at  the  time,  but  that  no  copy  has  survived. 
Throughout  the  whole  work  there  are  continual 
references  to  Burghley.  Chapter  VI.  is  entirely  devoted 
to  his  defence  and  is  headed  "Certain  true  general  notes 
upon  the  actions  of  the  Lord  Burghley."  Either  "  The 
Life  "  and  the  "  Observations  on  a  Libel  "  are  by  the 
same  writer  or  the  author  of  the  former  borrowed  the 
latter  very  freely. 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  the  original  manuscript  of 
the  "Life  "cannot  now  be  found.  In  1732  it  was  at 
Burghley  House.  Application  has  been  made  to  the 

*  Harl.  MSS.,  537,  pp.  26  and  71 ;  additional  MSS.,  4,263,  p. 
144 ;  Harl.  MSS.,  6,401  ;  Harl.  MSS.,  6,854,  P-  2O3  ;  Cambridge 
Univ.  Lib.,  Mm.  V.  5  ;  Cotton  MSS.,  Tit.,  Chap.  VII.,  p.  50  b  ; 
Harl.  MSS.,  859,  p.  40  ;  Cotton  MSS.,  Jul.,  F.  VI.,  p.  158. 


Il6  THE   MYSTERY   OF   FRANCIS   BACON. 

present  Marquis  of  Exeter  for  permission  to  inspect  it, 
but  his  Lordship's  librarian  has  no  knowledge  of  its 
existence.  If  it  could  be  examined  it  is  probable  that  if 
the  text  was  not  in  Bacon's  handwriting  some  notes  or 
alterations  might  be  recognised  as  his.  The  writer  says 
he  was  an  eye  witness  of  Burghley's  life  and  actions 
twenty-five  years  together — that  would  be  from  1573 
to  1598,  which  wonld  well  accord  with  the  present 
contention.  If  Bacon  was  the  author  it  throws  con- 
siderable light  on  his  relations  with  Burghley  and 
establishes  the  fact  that  they  were  of  the  most  cordial 
and  affectionate  character.  It  is  reported  that  Bacon 
said  that  in  the  time  of  the  Burghleys — father  and  son — 
clever  or  able  men  were  repressed,  and  mainly  upon  this 
has  been  based  the  impression  that  Burghley  opposed 
Francis  Bacon's  progress. 

Burghley's  biographer  refers  to  this  report.  He 
writes:  "He  was  careful  and  desirous  to  furder  and 
advaunce  men  of  quality  and  desart  to  be  Councellors 
and  officers  to  her  Majesty  wherein  he  placed  manie  and 
laboured  to  bring  in  more  .  .  .  yet  would  envy  with 
her  slaunders  report  he  hindered  men  from  rising  ;  but 
howe  true  it  is  wise  men  maie  judge,  for  it  was  the 
Queene  to  take  whom  she  pleased  and  not  in  a  subject 
to  preferree  whom  he  listed." 

It  will  eventually  be  proved  that  such  a  report  conveys 
an  incorrect  view.  In  the  letter  of  1591,*  addressed  to 
Burghley, Bacon  says: — "Besides  I  do  not  find  in  myself 
so  much  self-love,  but  that  the  greater  parts  of  my 
thoughts  are  to  deserve  well  (if  I  were  able)  of  my  friends 
and  namely  of  your  Lordship ;  who  being  the  Atlas  of 
this  Commonwealth,  the  honour  of  my  house,  and  the 
second  founder  of  my  poor  estate,  I  am  tied  by  all 
duties,  both  of  a  good  patriot,  and  of  an  unworthy 
kinsman,  and  of  an  obliged  servant,  to  employ  whatso- 
ever I  am  to  do  your  service,"  and  later  in  the  letter  he 

0  See  page  72. 


BUKGHLEY    AND    BACON.  117 

employs  the  phrase,  "And  if  your  Lordship  will  not  carry 
me  on,"  and  then  threatens  to  sell  the  inheritance  that 
he  has,  purchase  some  quick  revenue  that  may  be 
executed  by  another,  and  become  some  sorry  bookmaker 
or  a  pioneer  in  that  mine  of  truth  which  Anaxagoras 
said  lay  so  deep. 

Again,  in  a  letter  to  Burghley,  dated  3ist  March,  1594, 
he  says: — "  Lastly,  that  howsoever  this  matter  may  go, 
yet  I  may  enjoy  your  lordship's  good  favour  and  help  as 
I  have  done  in  regard  to  my  private  estate,  which  as  I 
have  not  altogether  neglected  so  I  have  but  negligently 
attended  and  which  hath  been  bettered  only  by  yourself 
(the  Queen  except)  and  not  by  any  other  in  matter  of 
importance."  Further  on  he  says:  "Thus  again 
desiring  the  continuance  of  your  Lordship's  goodness 
as  I  have  hitherto  found  it  on  my  part  sought  also  to 
deserve,  I  commend,"  etc. 

It  is  very  easy,  with  little  information  as  to  Bacon's 
actions  and  little  knowledge  of  the  period,  to  form  a 
definite  opinion  as  to  the  relations  of  Bacon  and 
Burghley.  The  more  information  as  to  the  one  and 
knowledge  of  the  other  one  gets,  the  more  difficult  does 
it  become  to  arrive  at  a  satisfactory  conclusion.  Here 
was  the  son  of  Elizabeth's  great  Lord  Keeper,  the 
nephew  of  her  trusted  minister,  himself  from  his  boy- 
hood a  persona  grata  with  the  Queen,  of  brilliant  parts 
and  great  wisdom — if  he  had  been  a  mere  place-hunter 
his  desires  could  have  been  satisfied  over  and  over 
again.  There  was  some  condition  of  circumstance,  of 
which  nothing  has  hitherto  been  known, which  prevented 
him  from  obtaining  the  object  of  his  desires.  That  he 
had  a  definite  object,  and  had  mapped  out  a  course  by 
which  he  hoped  to  achieve  it,  is  evident  from  his  letters  * 
already  quoted.  It  is  equally  clear  that  the  course  he 
sought  to  pursue  entailed  his  abandoning  the  law  as  a 
profession.  Either  he  would  only  have  such  place  as 

*  See  pages  70,  72. 


Il8  THE    MYSTERY    OF   FRANCIS    BACON. 

he  desired,  and  on  his  own  terms,  or  he  was  known  to  be 
following  some  course  which,  although  not  distasteful 
to  his  close  friends,  caused  him  to  be  held  in  suspicion, 
if  not  distrust,  by  the  courtiers  with  whom  Elizabeth 
was  surrounded.  Every  additional  fact  that  comes  to 
light  seems  to  point  to  the  truth  being  that  through  his 
life  Burghley  was  Francis  Bacon's  staunch  friend  and 
supporter.  Upon  Sir  Nicholas  Bacon's  death  Burghley 
appears  with  Bodley  to  have  been  maintaining  Bacon 
in  his  travels  abroad.  Upon  his  return  to  England 
Burghley  gave  him  financial  support  in  his  great  project. 
In  1591  there  was  a  crisis — someone  had  been  spending 
money  for  the  past  twelve  years  freely  in  making  English 
literature.  That  cannot  be  gainsaid.  Burghley  appears 
to  have  pulled  up  and  remonstrated  ;  hence  Bacon's 
letter  containing  the  threat  before  referred  to.  It  is 
significant  that  it  was  immediately  after  this  letter  was 
written  that  Bacon's  association  with  Essex  com- 
menced. Bacon  would  take  him  and  Southampton  into 
his  confidence  and  seek  their  help.  Essex  was  just  the 
man  to  respond  with  enthusiasm.  Francis  introduced 
Anthony  to  him.  The  services  of  the  brothers  were 
placed  at  his  disposal,  and  he  undertook  to  manage  the 
Queen.  The  office  of  Attorney-General  for  Francis 
would  meet  the  case.  "  It  was  dangerous  in  a  factious 
age  to  have  my  Lord  Essex  his  favour,"  says  the 
biographer  before  quoted.* 

That  Burghley  was  favourable  to  his  appointment  as 
Attorney-General  two  letters  written  by  Francis  to 
Lord  Keeper  Puckering  in  1594  testify.  In  the  first 
Bacon  writes :  "  I  pray  your  Lordship  to  call  to  remem- 
brance my  Lord  Treasurer's  kind  course,  who  affirmed 
directly  all  the  rest  to  be  unfit.  And  because  vis  unita 
fortior  I  beg  your  Lordship  to  take  a  time  with  the 
Queen  when  my  Lord  Treasurer  is  present." 

In  a  second  letter  he  writes :    "  I  thought  good  to 

*  See  Appendix. 


BURGHLEY   AND   BACON.  IIQ 

remember  your  good  Lordship  and  to  request  you  as  I 
touched  in  my  last  that  if  my  Lord  Treasurer  be  absent 
your  Lordship  would  forbear  to  fall  into  my  business 
with  her  Majesty  lest  it  mought  receive  some  foil  before 
the  time  when  it  should  be  resolutely  dealt  in." 

Only  Burghley  was  found  to  support  Essex's  advocacy, 
and  on  the  whole  this  was  not  to  be  wondered  at.  Such 
an  appointment,  to  say  the  least,  would  have  been  an 
experiment.  Possibly  Essex  was  the  stumbling-block, 
but  it  may  be  that  the  real  objection  on  the  part  of  the 
Queen  and  her  advisers  was  that  Bacon  was  known  to 
be  so  amorous  of  certain  learned  arts,  so  much  given 
over  to  invention,  that  the  consensus  of  opinion  was 
that  he  was  thereby  unfitted  to  hold  an  important  office 
of  the  State.  Or  it  may  be  that  he  was  discredited  by 
his  suspected  or  known  association  with  certain  printers. 
There  was  some  reason  of  which  no  explanation  can 
now  be  traced. 

It  has  been  suggested  that  in  1591  there  was  a  crisis 
in  Bacon's  life.  That  is  evident  from  the  letter  to 
Burghley  written  in  that  year.  John  Harrington's 
translation  of  "  Orlando  Furioso  "  was  published  about 
this  time.  The  manuscript,  which  is  in  a  perfect 
condition,  is  in  the  British  Museum,  and  has  been 
marked  in  Bacon's  handwriting  throughout.  The 
pagination  and  the  printer's  signature  are  placed  at  the 
commencement  of  the  stanzas  to  be  printed  on  each 
page,  and  there  are  instructions  to  the  printer  at  the 
end  which  are  not  in  his  hand. 

There  are  good  grounds  for  attributing  the  notes  at 
the  end  of  each  chapter  to  Bacon. 

It  is  very  improbable  that  Sir  John  Harrington  had 
the  classical  knowledge  which  the  writer  of  these  notes 
must  have  possessed.  There  is  a  letter  written  by  him 
to  Sir  Amias  Pawlett,  dated  January,  1606-7.  He  is 
relating  an  interview  with  King  James,  and  says : 
"Then  he  (the  king)  enquyrede  muche  of  lernynge  and 


I2O 


THE   MYSTERY   OF   FRANCIS    BACON. 


showede  me  his  owne  in  such  sorte  as  made  me  remem- 
ber my  examiner  at  Cambridge  aforetyme.  He  soughte 
muche  to  knowe  my  advances  in  philosophie  and 
utterede  profounde  sentences  of  Aristotle  and  such  lyke 
wryters,  whiche  I  had  never  reade  and  which  some  are 
bolde  enoughe  to  saye  others  do  not  understand."  It 
would  be  difficult  to  mention  any  classical  author  with 
whose  works  the  writer  of  these  notes  was  not  familiar, 
or  to  believe  that  "  Epigrams  both  Pleasant  and 
Serious  "  (1615)  came  from  the  pen  of  that  writer. 

At  the  end  of  the  thirty-seventh  chapter  the  following 
note  occurs  :  "  It  was  because  she  (Porcia)  wrote  some 
verses  in  manner  of  an  Epitaph  upon  her  husband  after 
his  decease  :  In  which  kind,  that  honourable  Ladie 
(widow  of  the  late  Lord  John  Russell)  deserveth  no 
lesse  commendation,  having  done  as  much  for  two  hus- 
bands. And  whereas  my  author  maketh  so  great  bost 
only  of  one  learned  woman  in  Italie,  I  may  compare 
(besides  one  above  all  comparison  that  I  have  noted  in 
the  twentith  booke)  three  or  foure  in  England  out  of  one 
family,  and  namely  the  sisters  of  that  learned  Ladie,  as 
witness  that  verse  written  by  the  meanest  of  the  foure 
to  the  Ladie  Burlie  which  I  doubt  if  Cambridge  or  Ox- 
ford can  mend." 

The      four  Si  mihi  quem  cupio  cures  Mildreda  She    wrote 
daughters   of            remitti  to  Lady  Bur- 
Sir  Anthonie  Tu  bona,  tu   melior,  tu   mihi  sola  lie  to  send  a 
Cooke —                    soror ;  kinsman      of 
Ladie  Bur-  Sin  mali  cessando  retines,  &  trans  hers     into 
lie,                      mare  mittis,  Cornwall, 
Ladie  Rus-  Tu  mala,  tu  peior,  tu  mihi  nulla  where       she 
sell,                     soror.  dwelt,  and  to 
Lady     Ba-  Is   si   Cornubiam,  tibi   pax   sit   &  stop  his    go- 
con,                    omnia  Izeta,  ing     beyond 
Mistress  Sin  mare  Ceciliae  nuncio  bella.  sea. 
Killygrew.         Vale.* 

0  If  you,  O  Mildred,  will  take  care  to  send  back  tome  him  whom 

I  desire, 
You  will  be  my  good,  my  more  than  good,  my  only  sister  ; 


BURGHLEY   AND    BACON.  121 

The  writer  of  the  Latin  verse  was  not  Ladie  Russell, 
and  it  was  written  to  Ladie  Burlie,  so  she  must  either 
be  Ladie  Bacon  or  Mistress  Killigrew.  It  is  not  an 
improbable  theory  that  Ladie  Bacon  was  writing  to  her 
sister  Mildred,  who  had,  through  her  husband,  power 
either  to  send  Francis  to  Cornwall  or  permit  him  to 
be  sent  away  over  the  seas. 

There  is  a  copy  of  Machiavelli's  "  History  of 
Florence,"  1595,  with  Bacon's  notes  in  the  margins.* 

At  the  end  is  a  memorandum  giving  the  dates  when 
the  book  was  read  "in  Cornwall  at,"  and  then  follow 
two  words,  the  second  of  which  is  "  Lake,"  but  the 
first  is  undecipherable. 

Is  it  possible  that  Lady  Anne  Bacon  had  a  house  in 
Cornwall  which  Francis  Bacon,  inheriting  after  her 
death,  was  in  the  habit  of  visiting  for  retirement  ?  But 
this  is  conjecture. 

The  following  point  is  of  interest.  In  the  "  Life  of 
Burghley"  (1598)  it  is  said  that:  "Bookes  weare  so 
pleasing  to  him,  as  when  he  gott  libertie  to  goe  unto 
his  house  to  take  ayre,  if  he  found  a  book  worth  the 
openinge,  he  wold  rather  loose  his  ridinge  than  his 
readinge  ;  and  yet  ryding  in  his  garden  walks  upon  his 
litle  moile  was  his  greatest  Disport :  But  so  soone  as  he 

But  if,  unfortunately,  by  doing  nothing  you  keep  him  hack  and 

send  him  across  the  sea, 

You  will  be  bad,  more  than  bad,  nay  no  sister  at  all  of  mine. 
If  he  comes  to  Cornwall,  peace  and  all  joys  be  with  you, 
But  if  he  goes  by  sea  to  Sicily  I  declare  war.     Farewell. 

0  One  note  on  this  book  contains  an  interesting  historical  fact 
hitherto  unknown.  On  page  279  the  text  states:  "  Among  the 
Conspirators  was  Nicholo  Fedini  whom  they  employed  as  Chaun- 
cellor,  he  persuaded  with  a  hope  more  certaine,  revealed  to  Piero, 
all  the  practice  argreed  by  his  enemies,  and  delivered  him  a  note 
of  all  their  names.'1  Bacon  has  made  the  following  note  in  the 
margin  :  "  Ex  (i.e.,  Essex)  did  the  like  in  England  which  he  burnt 
at  Shirfr  Smiths  house  in  fenchurch  Street." 


122  THE   MYSTERY   OF   FRANCIS    BACON. 

came  in  he  fell  to  his  readinge  againe  or  els  to  dis- 
patchinge  busines." 

Rawley,  in  his  "  Life  of  Bacon  "  (1657),  attributes  an 
exactly  similar  habit  to  the  philosopher,  and  almost 
in  identical  phrase  :  "  For  he  would  ever  interlace  a 
moderate  relaxation  of  his  mind  with  his  studies  as 
walking,  or  taking  the  air  abroad  in  his  coach  or  some 
other  befitting  recreation ;  and  yet  he  would  lose  no 
time,  inasmuch  as  upon  his  first  and  immediate  return 
he  would  fall  to  reading  again,  and  so  suffer  no 
moment  of  time  to  slip  from  him  without  some  present 
improvement." 

It  is  difficult  to  approach  any  phase  of  the  life  of 
Bacon  without  being  confronted  with  what  appears  to 
be  evidence  of  careful  preparation  to  obscure  the  facts. 
This  observation  does  not  result  from  imagination  or 
prejudice ;  Bacon's  movements  are  always  enshrouded 
in  mystery.  Investigation  and  research  will,  however, 
eventually  establish  as  a  fact  that  there  was  a  closer 
connection  between  Burghley  and  Bacon  than  his- 
torians have  recognised,  and  that  they  had  a  strong 
attachment  for  each  other. 


123 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

THE     1623    FOLIO    EDITION     OF    SHAKE- 
SPEARE'S    PLAYS. 

SIR  SYDNEY  LEE  has  written*: — "As  a  specimen  of 
typography,  the  First  Folio  is  not  to  be  commended. 
There  are  a  great  many  contemporary  folios  of  larger 
bulk  far  more  neatly  and  correctly  printed.  It  looks  as 
though  Jaggard's  printing  office  was  undermanned. 
The  misprints  are  numerous,  and  are  especially  con- 
spicuous in  the  pagination."  In  the  same  year  was 
published  "  The  Theater  of  Honour  and  Knighthood," 
translated  from  the  French  of  Andreu  Favine.  William 
Jaggard  was  the  printer.  It  is  a  large  folio  volume 
containing  about  1,200  pages,  and  is  referred  to  as  being 
issued  by  Jaggard  as  an  example  of  the  printer's  art  to 
maintain  his  reputation,  which  had  suffered  from  the 
apparently  careless  manner  in  which  the  Shakespeare 
Folio  was  turned  out.  Both  books  contain  the  same 
emblematic  head-pieces  and  tail-pieces.  There  are, 
however,  some  considerable  mispaginations  in  "The 
Theater  of  Honour."  Mispaginations  were  not  infrequent 
in  Elizabethan  and  Jacobean  literature,  but  it  is  quite 
possible  that  they  were  not  unintentional.  The  most 
glaring  instance  is  to  be  found  in  the  first  Edition  of 
"  The  Two  Bookes  of  Francis  Bacon — Of  the  Pro- 
ficience  and  Advancement  in  Learning,  Divine  and 
Humane,"  published  by  Henrie  Tomes  (1605).  Each  leaf 
(not  page)  is  numbered.  The  45  leaves  of  the  first  book 
are  correctly  numbered.  In  the  second  book  there  is  no 
number  on  leaf  6.  Leaf  9  is  numbered  6,  the  right  figure 
being  printed  upside  down  ;  30  is  numbered  33  ;  from 

*  "A  Life  of  Shakespeare,"  1589,  2nd  Edition,  p.  308. 


124  THE   MYSTERY   OF   FRANCIS   BACON. 

31  to  70  the  numbering  is  correct,  and  then  the  leaves 
are  numbered  as  follows : — 70,  70,  71,  70,  72,  74,  73,  74, 
75,  69,  77,  78,  79,  80,  77,  74,  74,  69,  69,  82,  87,  79,  89, 
91*  92,  93,  94,  95,  99,  97,  99,  94,  100,  99,  102,  103,  103, 
93,  106,  and  on  correctly  until  the  last  page,  118,  except 
that  115  is  numbered  105. 

It  is  impossible  to  attribute  this  mispagination  to  the 
printer's  carelessness.  This  was  the  first  work  pub- 
lished bearing  Bacon's  name,  excepting  the  trifle  of 
essays  published  in  1597.  There  does  not  appear  to 
have  been  any  hurry  in  its  production.  It  is  quite  a 
small  volume,  and  yet  the  foregoing  remarkable  mis- 
paginations  occur.  There  must  be  some  purpose  in  this 
which  has  yet  to  be  found  out. 

The  1623  Shakespeare  Folio  will  be  found  to  be  one 
of  the  most  perfect  examples  of  the  printer's  art  extant, 
because  no  work  has  been  produced  under  such  difficult 
conditions  for   the  printer.     There  are   few   mistakes 
in  pagination   or   spelling   which  are  not   intentional. 
The   work    is   a    masterpiece    of  enigma  and    cryptic 
design.     The  lines  "To  the  Reader"  opposite  to  the 
title-page  are  a  table  or  code  of  numbers.     The  same 
lines  and  the  lettering  on  the  title-page  form  another 
table.     The  ingenuity  displayed  in  this  manipulation  of 
words  and  numbers  to  create  analogies  is  almost  beyond 
the   comprehension    of  the   human    mind.      The  mis- 
paginations  are  all  intentional  and  have  cryptic  mean- 
ings.   The  acme  of  wit  is  the  substitution  of  993  for 
399  on  the  last  page  of  the  tragedies ;  a  hundred  has 
been  omitted  in  "  Hamlet,"  257  following  156,  and  other 
errors  made  in  order  to  obtain  this  result  on  the  last 
page.    The  manner  in  which  the  printer's  signatures 
have  been  arranged  with  the  pages  is  equally  wonder- 
ful.    The  name  William  Shakespeare  must  have  been 
created  without  reference   to   him   of  Stratford,    who 
possibly  bore  or  had  assigned  to  him  a  somewhat  similar 
name.     A  great  superstructure  is  built  up  on  the  exact 


THE    1623   FOLIO   EDITION.  125 

spelling  of  the  words  William  Shakespeare.  The  year 
1623  was  specially  selected  for  the  issue  of  the  complete 
volume  of  the  plays,  because  of  the  marvellous  relations 
which  the  numbers  composing  it  bear  to  the  names 
William  Shakespeare  and  Francis  Bacon,  to  the  year 
1560,  in  which  the  birth  of  Bacon  is  registered,  and  to 
1564  and  1616,  the  reputed  dates  of  the  birth  and  death 
of  the  Stratford  man.  Nor  do  the  wonders  end  here. 
The  use  of  numerical  analogies  has  been  carried  into 
the  construction  of  the  English  language.  All  this,  and 
much  more,  will  be  made  manifest  when  the  work  of 
Mr.  E.  V.  Tanner  comes  to  be  investigated  and  appre- 
ciated. He  has  made  the  greatest  literary  discovery 
of  all  time.  The  wonder  is  how  it  has  been  possible 
for  anyone  to  pierce  the  veil  and  reveal  the  secrets  of 
the  volume.  The  value  of  the  Shakespeare  Folio  1623 
will  be  enhanced.  It  will  stand  alone  as  the  greatest 
monument  of  the  achievements  of  the  human  intellect. 
To  any  literary  critic  who  should  honour  this  book 
by  noticing  it,  it  is  probable  the  foregoing  statements 
may  seem  extravagant  and  untrustworthy.  To  such 
the  request  is  now  made  that  before  making  any 
comment  he  will  inspect  the  proof  of  the  foregoing 
statements  which  are  in  the  writer's  possession.  The 
dramas  of  Shakespeare  are,  by  universal  consent, 
placed  at  the  head  of  all  literature.  The  invitation 
is  now  put  forth  in  explicit  terms,  and  facilities  are 
offered  for  the  investigation  of  the  truth,  or  otherwise, 
of  every  statement  made  in  the  foregoing  paragraph. 


126 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

THE    AUTHORIZED    VERSION    OF    THE 
BIBLE,     1611. 

Is  it  not  strange  that  there  is  no  mention  of  any 
connection  of  Francis  Bacon  with  this  work  ?  There 
was  a  conference  held  at  Hampton  Court  Palace  before 
King  James  on  January,  1603,  between  the  Episco- 
palians and  Puritans.  John  Rainoldes  urged  the 
necessity  of  providing  for  his  people  a  uniform  trans- 
lation of  the  Bible.  Rainoldes  was  the  leader  of  the 
Puritans,  a  person  of  prodigious  reading  and  doctrine, 
and  the  very  treasury  of  erudition.  Dr.  Hall,  Bishop 
of  Norwich,  reports  that  "he  alone  was  a  well  furnished 
library,  full  of  all  faculties,  of  all  studies,  of  all  learning 
— the  memory  and  reading  of  that  man  were  near  a 
miracle."  The  King  approved  the  suggestion  and 
commissioned  for  that  purpose  fifty-four  of  the  most 
learned  men  in  the  universities  and  other  places. 
There  was  a  "  careful  selection  of  revisers  made  by 
some  unknown  but  very  competent  authority."  The 
translators  were  divided  into  six  bands  of  nine  each, 
and  the  work  of  translation  was  apportioned  out  to 
them.  A  set  of  rules  was  drawn  up  for  their  guidance, 
which  has  happily  come  down  to  modern  times — almost 
the  only  record  that  remains  of  this  great  undertaking. 
These  concise  rules  have  a  homogeneity,  breadth  and 
vigour  which  point  to  Bacon  as  their  author.  Each 
reviser  was  to  translate  the  whole  of  the  original 
allocated  to  his  company ;  then  they  were  to  compare 
their  translations  together,  and,  as  soon  as  a  company 
had  completed  its  part,  it  was  to  communicate  the 
result  to  the  other  companies,  that  nothing  might  pass 


AUTHORIZED    VERSION   OF   THE    BIBLE.  127 

without  the  general  consent.  If  any  company,  upon 
the  review  of  the  translation  so  sent,  differed  on  any 
point,  they  were  to  note  their  objection  and  state  their 
reasons  for  disagreement.  If  the  differences  could  not 
be  adjusted,  there  was  a  committee  of  arbitration  which 
met  weekly,  consisting  of  a  representative  from  each 
company,  to  whom  the  matter  in  dispute  was  referred. 
If  any  point  was  found  to  be  very  obscure,  letters  were 
to  be  addressed,  by  authority,  to  learned  persons 
throughout  the  land  inviting  their  judgment.  The  work 
was  commenced  in  1604.  Rainoldes  belonged  to  the 
company  to  whom  Isaiah  and  the  prophets  were 
assigned.  He  died  in  1607,  before  the  work  was  com- 
pleted. During  his  illness  his  colleagues  met  in  his 
bedroom  so  that  they  might  retain  the  benefit  of  his 
learning.  Only  forty-seven  out  of  the  fifty-four  names 
are  known.  When  the  companies  had  completed  their 
work,  one  complete  copy  was  made  at  Oxford,  one  at 
Cambridge,  and  one  at  Westminster.  Those  were  sent 
to  London.  Then  two  members  were  selected  from 
each  company  to  form  a  committee  to  review  and 
polish  the  whole.  The  members  met  daily  at  Stationers' 
Hall  and  occupied  nine  months  in  their  task.  Then  a 
final  revision  was  entrusted  to  Dr.  Thomas  Bilson  and 
Dr.  Miles  Smith,  and  in  1609  their  labours  were  com- 
pleted and  the  result  was  handed  to  the  King.  Many 
of  the  translators  have  left  specimens  of  their  writing  in 
theological  treatises,  sermons,  and  other  works.  A 
careful  perusal  of  all  these  available  justifies  the  asser- 
tion that  amongst  the  whole  body  there  was  not  one 
man  who  was  so  great  a  literary  stylist  as  to  be  able  to 
write  certain  portions  of  the  Authorised  Version, 
which  stamp  it  as  one  of  the  two  greatest  examples  of  the 
English  language.  Naturally  the  interest  centres  on  Dr. 
Thomas  Bilson  and  Dr.  Miles  Smith,  to  whom  the  final 
revision  was  entrusted.  There  are  some  nine  or  ten 
theological  works  by  the  former  and  two  sermons  by 


128  THE    MYSTERY   OF   FRANCIS   BACON. 

the  latter.  Unless  the  theory  of  a  special  divine  inspira- 
tion for  the  occasion  be  admitted,  it  is  clear  that  neither 
Bilson  nor  Miles  Smith  could  have  given  the  final 
touches  to  the  Bible.  And  now  a  curious  statement 
has  come  down  to  us.  In  1609  the  translators  handed 
their  work  to  the  King,  and  in  1610  he  returned  it  to 
them  completed.  James  was  incapable  of  writing 
anything  to  which  the  term  beautiful  could  be  applied. 
What  had  happened  to  the  translators'  work  whilst  it 
was  left  in  his  hands? 

James  had  an  officer  of  state  at  that  time  of  whom  a 
contemporary  biographer  wrote  that  "  he  had  the  con- 
trivance of  all  King  James  his  Designs,  until  the  match 
with  Spain."  It  will  eventually  be  proved  that  the 
whole  scheme  of  the  Authorised  Version  of  the  Bible 
was  Francis  Bacon's.  He  was  an  ardent  student  not 
only  of  the  Bible,  but  of  the  early  manuscripts.  St. 
Augustine,  St.  Jerome,  and  writers  of  theological  works, 
were  studied  by  him  with  industry.  He  has  left  his 
annotations  in  many  copies  of  the  Bible  and  in  scores 
of  theological  works.  The  translation  must  have  been 
a  work  in  which  he  took  the  deepest  interest  and  which 
he  would  follow  from  stage  to  stage.  When  the  last 
stage  came  there  was  only  one  writer  of  the  period  who 
was  capable  of  turning  the  phrases  with  that  matchless 
style  which  is  the  great  charm  of  the  Shakespeare  plays. 
Whoever  that  stylist  was,  it  was  to  him  that  James 
handed  over  the  manuscripts  which  he  received  from  the 
translators.  That  man  then  made  havoc  of  much  of 
the  translation,  but  he  produced  a  result  which,  on  its 
literary  merits,  is  without  an  equal. 

Thirty  years  ago  another  revision  took  place,  but, 
notwithstanding  the  advantages  which  the  revisers  of 
1880  had  over  their  predecessors  of  1611,  their  version 
has  failed  to  displace  the  older  version,  which  is  too 
precious  to  the  hearts  of  the  people  for  them  to 
abandon  it. 


AUTHORIZED   VERSION   OF  THE   BIBLE.  I2Q 

Although  not  one  of  the  translators  has  left  any 
literary  work  which  would  justify  the  belief  that  he  was 
capable  of  writing  the  more  beautiful  portions  of  the 
Bible,  fortunately  Bacon  has  left  an  example  which 
would  rather  add  lustre  to  than  decrease  the  high 
standard  of  the  Bible  if  it  were  incorporated  in  it.  As 
to  the  truth  of  this  statement  the  reader  must  judge 
from  the  following  prayer,  which  was  written  after  his 
fall,  and  which  was  described  by  Addison  as  resembling 
the  devotion  of  an  angel  rather  than  a  man  : — 

Remember,  O  Lord,  how  Thy  servant  hath  walked  before 
Thee ;  remember  what  I  have  first  sought,  and  what  been 
principal  in  mine  intentions.  I  have  loved  Thy  assemblies  ; 
I  have  mourned  for  the  divisions  of  Thy  Church ;  I  have 
delighted  in  the  brightness  of  Thy  sanctuary. 

This  vine,  which  Thy  right  hand  hath  planted  in  this 
nation,  I  have  ever  prayed  unto  Thee  that  it  might  have  the 
first  and  the  latter  rain,  and  that  it  might  stretch  her 
branches  to  the  seas  and  to  the  floods. 

The  state  and  bread  of  the  poor  and  oppressed  have  been 
precious  in  mine  eyes.  I  have  hated  all  cruelty  and  hard- 
ness of  heart.  I  have,  though  in  a  despised  weed,  procured 
the  good  of  all  men. 

If  any  have  been  mine  enemies,  1  thought  not  of  them, 
neither  hath  the  sun  almost  set  upon  my  displeasure ;  but  I 
have  been  as  a  dove,  free  from  superfluity  of  maliciousness. 

Thy  creatures  have  been  my  books,  but  Thy  scriptures 
much  more.  I  have  sought  Thee  in  the  courts,  fields,  and 
gardens,  but  I  have  found  Thee  in  Thy  temples. 

Thousand  have  been  my  sins  and  ten  thousand  my  trans- 
gressions, but  Thy  sanctifications  have  remained  with  me, 
and  my  heart,  through  Thy  grace,  hath  been  an  unquenched 
coal  upon  Thine  altar. 

O  Lord,  my  strength,  I  have  since  my  youth  met  with 
Thee  in  all  my  ways,  by  Thy  fatherly  compassions,  by  Thy 
comfortable  chastisements,  and  by  Thy  most  visible  provi- 


130  THE    MYSTERY   OF   FRANCIS   BACON. 

dence.  As  Thy  favours  have  increased  upon  me,  so  have 
Thy  corrections,  so  that  Thou  hast  been  ever  near  me,  O 
Lord  ;  and  ever,  as  Thy  worldly  blessings  were  exalted,  se 
secret  darts  from  Thee  have  pierced  me,  and  when  I  have 
ascended  before  men,  I  have  descended  in  humiliation  before 
Thee. 

And  now,  when  I  thought  most  of  peace  and  honour,  Thy 
hand  is  heavy  upon  me,  and  hath  humbled  me  according  to 
Thy  former  lovingkindness,  keeping  me  still  in  Thy  fatherly 
school,  not  as  a  bastard  but  as  a  child.  Just  are  Thy  judg- 
ments upon  me  for  my  sins,  which  are  more  in  number  than 
the  sands  of  the  sea,  but  have  no  proportion  to  Thy  mercies  ; 
for  what  are  the  sands  of  the  sea  to  the  sea  ?  Earth,  heavens, 
and  all  these  are  nothing  to  Thy  mercies. 

Besides  my  innumerable  sins,  I  confess  before  Thee  that  I 
am  debtor  to  Thee  for  the  gracious  talent  of  Thy  gifts  and 
graces,  which  I  have  neither  put  into  a  napkin,  nor  put  it 
(as  I  ought)  to  exchangers,  where  it  might  have  made  most 
profit,  but  misspent  it  in  things  for  which  I  was  least  fit  so 
that  I  may  truly  say  my  soul  hath  been  a  stranger  in  the 
course  of  my  pilgrimage. 

Be  merciful  unto  me,  O  Lord,  for  my  Saviour's  sake, 
and  receive  me  into  Thy  bosom  or  guide  me  in  Thy  ways. 

There  is  another  feature  about  the  first  editions  of 
the  Authorised  Version  which  arrests  attention.  In 
1611  the  first  folio  edition  was  published.  The  design 
with  archers,  dogs  and  rabbits  which  is  to  be  found 
over  the  address  "To  the  Christian  Reader"  which 
introduces  the  genealogies  is  also  to  be  found  in 
the  folio  edition  of  Shakespeare  over  the  dedica- 
tion to  the  most  noble  and  Incomparable  paire  of 
Brethren,  over  the  Catalogue  and  elsewhere.  Except 
that  the  mark  of  query  which  is  on  the  head  of  the 
right  hand  pillar  in  the  design  in  the  Bible  is  missing 
in  the  Shakespeare  folio,  and  the  arrow  which  the  archer 
on  the  right  hand  side  is  shooting  contains  a  message  in 


AUTHORIZED   VERSION   OF  THE   BIBLE.  13! 

the  design  used  in  the  Bible  and  is  without  one  in  the 
Shakespeare  folio. 

In  the  1612  quarto  edition  of  the  Authorised  Version 
on  the  title-page  of  the  Genealogies  are  two  designs ; 
that  at  the  head  of  the  page  is  printed  from  the  identical 
block  which  was  used  on  the  title-page  of  the  first 
edition  of  "Venus  and  Adonis,"  1593,  and  the  first 
edition  of  "Lucrece,"  1594.  At  the  bottom  is  the 
design  with  the  light  A  and  dark  A,  which  is  over  the 
dedication  to  Sir  William  Cecil  in  the  "  Arte  of  English 
Poesie,"  1589.  An  octavo  edition,  which  is  now  very 
rare,  was  also  published  in  1612.  On  the  title-page  of 
the  Genealogies  will  be  found  the  design  with  the  light 
A  and  dark  A  which  is  used  on  several  of  the  Shake- 
speare quartos  and  elsewhere.  (Figure  XXI.) 

The  selection  of  these  designs  was  not  made  by 
chance.  They  were  deliberately  chosen  to  create 
similitudes  between  certain  books,  and  mark  their 
connection  with  each  other. 

The  revised  translation  of  the  Bible  was  undertaken 
as  a  national  work.  It  was  carried  out  under  the 
personal  supervision  of  the  King,  but  every  record  of 
the  proceedings  has  disappeared.  The  British  Museum 
does  not  contain  a  manuscript  connected  with  the 
proceedings  of  the  translators.  In  the  Record  Office 
have  been  preserved  the  original  documents  referring  to 
important  proceedings  of  that  period.  The  parlia- 
mentary, judicial,  and  municipal  records  are,  on  the 
whole,  in  a  complete  condition,  but  ask  for  any  records 
connected  with  the  Authorised  Version  of  the  Bible 
and  the  reply  is  :  "  We  have  none."  And  yet  it  is 
reasonable  to  suppose  that  manuscripts  and  documents 
of  such  importance  would  be  preserved.  Where  are 
they  to  be  found  ? 


132 


CHAPTER   XVIII. 

HOW  BACON  MARKED  BOOKS  WITH  THE 

PUBLICATION  OF  WHICH  HE  WAS 

CONNECTED. 

AT  a  very  early  period  in  the  history  of  printing,  the 
custom  was  introduced  of  placing  on  title-pages,  at  the 
heads  and  ends  of  the  chapters,  emblematical  designs. 
In  English  printed  books  these  are  seldom  to  be  found 
until  the  latter  half  of  the  i6th  century. 

An  investigation  of  the  books  of  the  period  reveals 
the  fact  that  the  same  blocks  were  used  by  different 
printers.  Articles  have  been  written  on  the  migration 
of  printer's  blocks,  but,  so  far,  no  explanation  has  been 
offered  as  to  any  object  other  than  decoration  for  which 
these  blocks  were  used. 

Among  other  designs  in  use  between  1576  and  1640 
are  a  number  of  variants  of  a  device  in  which  a  light  A 
and  a  dark  A  form  the  most  conspicuous  points. 
Camden,  in  his  "Remaines  Concerning  Britaine,"  1614, 
commences  a  chapter  on  "  Impresses,"  at  the  head  of 
which  the  device  is  found,  thus  : — "  An  Imprese  (as  the 
Italians  call  it)  is  a  device  in  picture  with  his  Motto,  or 
Word,  borne  by  noble  and  learned  personages,  to 
notifie  some  particular  conceit  of  their  owne :  as 
Emblemes  (that  we  may  omitte  other  differences)  doe 
propound  some  general  instructions  to  all."  Then 
follow  a  number  of  examples,  and  amongst  them  this  : — 

"  Variete  and  vicissitude  of  humane  things  he  seemed 
to  shew  which  parted  his  shield,  Per  Pale,  Argent  & 
Sables  and  counter-changeably  writte  in  the  Argent, 
Ater  and  in  the  Sables  Albus." 


HOW  BACON  MARKED  BOOKS.          133 

But  even  if  the  light  A  and  dark  A  are  used  in  the 
design  of  the  head-piece  to  represent  Albus  and  Ater  it 
does  not  afford  any  satisfactory  explanation  as  to  why 
they  are  so  used. 

In  MDCXVI.  was  published  "  Les  Emblemes 
Moraulx  et  Militaires  du  Sieur  Jacob  De  Bruck  Anger- 
mundt  Nouvellement  mis  en  Lumiere  A  Strasbourg, 
Par  Jacob  de  Heyden  Graveur." 

In  Emblem  No.  18,  now  reproduced,  the  light  A  and 
the  dark  A  will  be  found  in  the  branch  of  the  tree 
which  the  man  is  about  to  cut  off.  (Figure  VI.)* 

Another  Emblem  does  not  contain  the  light  A  and 
dark  A,  but  the  bark  of  the  trunk  and  branches  of  the 
tree  on  the  design  exhibit  a  strong  contrast  between  the 
dark  and  light,  which  feature  is  represented  in  most  of 
the  title-pages  of  books  in  which  the  device  is  found. 
(Figure  VII.) 

Mr.  Charles  T.  Jacob,  Chiswick  Press,  London,  who 
is  the  author  of  "  Books  and  Printing  "  (London,  1902), 
and  several  works  on  typography,  referring  to  an  article 
on  the  migration  of  woodblocks,  said  : — 

It  is  a  well-known  fact  to  Bibliographers  that  the  same  blocks 
were  sometimes  used  by  different  printers  in  two  places  quite 
far  apart,  and  at  various  intervals  during  the  seventeenth  and 
eighteenth  centuries.  That  the  same  blocks  were  employed  is 
apparent  from  a  comparison  of  technical  defects  of  impressions 
taken  at  different  places,  and  at  two  periods.  There  was 
no  method  of  duplication  in  existence  until  stereotyping  was  first 
invented  in  1725  ;  even  then  the  details  were  somewhat  crude,  and 
the  process  being  new,  it  met  with  much  opposition  and  was 
practically  not  adopted  until  the  early  part  of  the  nineteenth 
century.  Electrotyping,  which  is  the  ideal  method  of  repro- 
ducing woodblocks,  was  not  introduced  until  1836  or  there- 
abouts. Of  course,  it  was  quite  possible  to  re-engrave  the  same 
design,  but  absolute  fidelity  could  not  be  relied  on  by  these 
means,  even  if  executed  by  the  same  hand. 

0  Plates  Nos.  VI.  to  XXI.  will  be  found  after  the  Appendix. 

K 


134       THE  MYSTERY  OF  FRANCIS  BACON. 

The  earliest  date  which  appears  on  a  book  in  which 
the  head-piece,  containing  the  device  of  the  light  A  and 
dark  A  is  found,  is  1563.  The  book  is  "  De  Furtivis 
Literarum  Notis  Vulgo.  De  Ziferis,"  loan.  Baptista 
Porta  Neapolitano  Authore.  Cum  Privilegio  Neapoli, 
apud  loa.  Mariam  Scotum.  MDLXIII.  (Figure  VIII.) 

It  is  only  used  once — over  the  dedication  loanni 
Soto  Philippi  Regis.  There  is  no  other  head-piece  in 
the  book.  John  Baptist  Porta  was,  with  the  exception 
of  Trithemius,  whom  he  quotes,  the  first  writer  on 
cyphers.  At  the  time  at  which  he  wrote  cypher-writing 
was  studied  in  every  Court  in  Europe.  It  is  significant 
that  this  emblematic  device  is  used  in  the  earliest  period 
in  which  head-pieces  were  adopted,  in  a  book  which  is 
descriptive  and  is  in  fact  a  text-book  of  the  art  of 
concealment.  This  has,  however,  now  been  proved  to 
be  a  falsely  dated  book. 

The  first  edition  of  this  work  was  published  in  Naples  in 
*563  by  loa.  Marius  Scotus,  but  this  does  not  contain  the 
A  A  design.  In  1591  the  book  was  published  in  London 
by  John  Wolfe ;  this  reprint  was  dedicated  to  Henry 
Percy,  Earl  of  Northumberland.  After  the  edition  had 
been  printed  off,  the  title-page  was  altered  to  correspond 
with  the  1563  Naples  publication.  The  dedication  was 
taken  out,  and  a  reprint  of  the  original  dedication  was 
substituted,  and  over  this  was  placed  the  A  A  head- 
piece ;  then  an  edition  was  struck  off,  and,  until  to-day, 
it  has  been  sold  and  re-sold  as  the  first  edition  of 
Baptista  Porta's  work.  It  is  difficult  to  offer  any 
explanation  as  to  why  this  fraud  was  committed. 

The  first  occasion  upon  which  this  device  was  used 
appears  to  be  in  a  book  so  rare  that  no  copy  of  it  can 
be  found,  either  in  the  British  Museum  or  the  Bodleian 
Library.  Unfortunately,  in  the  copy  belonging  to  the 
writer,  the  title-page  and  the  two  first  pages  are 
missing.  The  work  is  called  "  Hebraicum  Alphabethum 
Jo.  Bovlaese."  It  is  a  Hebrew  Grammar,  with  proof- 


HOW   BACON    MARKED   BOOKS.  135 

sheets  added.  It  is  interleaved  with  sheets  of  English- 
made  paper,  containing  Bacon's  handwriting.  Bound 
up  with  it  is  another  Hebrew  Grammar,  similarly 
interleaved,  called  "  Sive  compendium,  quintacunque 
Ratione  fieri  potuit  amplessimum,  Totius  linguae," 
published  in  Paris  in  1566.  The  book  ends  with  the 
sentence  :  "  Ex  collegio  Montis — Acuti  20  Decembris 
1576 " ;  then  follow  two  pages  in  Hebrew,  with  the 
Latin  translation  over  it,  headed  "  Decem  Prcecepta 
decalogi  Exod."  Over  this  is  the  design  containing  the 
light  A  and  the  dark  A,  and  the  squirrel  and  rabbits. 
(Figure  IX.)  One  thing  is  certain,  that  the  copy  now 
referred  to  was  in  the  possession  of  Bacon,  and  that 
the  interleaved  sheets  of  paper  contain  his  handwriting, 
in  which  have  been  added  page  by  page  the  equivalents 
of  the  Hebrew  in  Greek,  Chaldaeic,  Syriac  and  Arabic. 

In  1577  Christopher  Plantin  published  an  edition  of 
Andrea  Alciat's  "Emblemata."  On  page  104  is  Emblem 
No.  45,  "Indies  meliora."  This  has  been  re-designed 
for  the  1577  edition.  It  contains  at  the  back  the  pillars 
of  Hercules,  with  a  scroll  around  bearing  the  motto  : 
"Plus  oltre."  These  pillars  stand  on  some  arches, 
immediately  in  front  of  which  is  a  mound  or  pyramid, 
two  sides  of  which  are  seen.  On  one  is  to  be  found  the 
light  A  and  on  the  other  the  dark  A.  The  design  was 
appropriated  by  Whitney,  and  appears  on  page  53  in 
the  1586  edition  of  his  Emblems.  From  this  time  forth, 
A  A  devices  are  to  be  found  in  numbers  of  books 
published  in  England,  and  on  some  published  on  the 
Continent.  Amongst  the  former  are  the  first  editions 
of  "  Venus  and  Adonis,"  "  Lucrece,"  the  "  Sonnets," 
the  quarto  editions  of  Shakespeare's  plays,  the  folio 
edition  (1623)  of  his  works,  and  the  first  quarto  and 
octavo  editions  (1612)  of  the  Authorised  Version  of  the 
Bible. 

There  are  fourteen  distinct  designs,  in  all  of  which, 
varying  widely  in  other  respects,  the  light  A  and  the 


136  THE   MYSTERY   OF   FRANCIS   BACON. 

dark  A  constitute  the  outstanding  figure.  The  use  of 
the  two  letters  so  shaded  must  have  had  a  special  sig- 
nificance. In  nearly  every  case  it  will  be  observed  that 
the  letter  A  is  so  drawn  as  to  make  the  letter  C  on 
the  inside.  Was  its  significance  of  general  knowledge 
amongst  printers  and  readers,  or  was  it  an  earmark- 
ing device  used  by  one  person,  or  by  a  Society  ? 

A  possible  interpretation  of  the  use  of  the  light  and 
dark  shading,  is  that  the  book  in  which  it  is  used 
contains  more  than  is  revealed ;  that  is  to  say,  the  overt 
and  the  concealed. 

A  copy  of  "^Esopiphrygis  vita  et  fabellae  cum  latina 
interpretatione  "  exists,  date  1517.  The  book  is  annotated 
by  Bacon.  On  one  side  is  the  Greek  text  and  on  the 
opposite  page  the  Latin  translation.  On  pages  102  and 
103  are  two  initial  letters  printed  from  blocks  of  the 
letter  A.  These  are  coloured  so  that  the  one  on  the 
left  hand  side  is  a  light  A,  and  that  on  the  opposite  page 
a  dark  A. 

There  are  other  designs  which  are  used  apparently 
as  part  of  a  scheme.  The  identical  block  (Figure  X.) 
which  was  used  at  the  top  of  the  title  page  of  "  Venus 
and  Adonis  "  (1593)  and  "  Lucrece  "  (1594)  did  service  on 
the  title  page  of  the  Genealogies  in  the  quarto  edition  of 
the  Authorised  Version  of  the  Bible,  1612.  This  design 
was,  so  far  as  can  be  traced,  only  used  twice  in  the 
intervening  nineteen  years — on  "  An  Apologie  of  the  Earl 
of  Essex  to  Master  Anthony  Bacon,"  penned  by  himself 
in  1598,  and  printed  by  Richard  Bradocke  in  1603,  and 
in  1607,  on  the  "  World  of  Wonders,"  printed  by 
Richard  Field.  It  was  of  this  book  that  Caldecott,  the 
bibliophile  and  Shakespearean  scholar,  wrote  :  "  The 
phraseology  of  Shakespeare  is  better  illustrated  in  this 
work  than  in  any  other  book  existing."  The  design 
which  is  found  on  the  title  page  of  the  "Sonnets 
of  Shakespeare,"  1609,  is  found  also  in  the  first  edition 
of  Napier's  "  Mirifici  Logarithmorum,"  1611,  but  printed 


HOW   BACON    MARKED   BOOKS.  137 

from  a  different  block.  The  design  with  archers  shoot- 
ing at  the  base  of  the  central  figure  is  to  be  found  in 
a  large  number  of  the  folio  editions  of  the  period. 
Amongst  these  are  the  Authorised  Version  of  the 
Bible,  1611,  the  "  NovumOrganum,"  1620,  and  the  1623 
edition  of  Shakespeare's  works. 

There  are  other  designs  which  are  usually  found 
accompanying  the  light  A  and  dark  A  and  the  other 
devices  before  referred  to. 

These  designs  were  first  brought  into  use  from  1576 
and  practically  cease  to  appear  about  1626.  Afterwards 
they  are  seldom  seen  except  in  books  bearing  Bacon's 
name,  and  eventually  they  lapse.  The  last  use  of  an 
AA  device  is  over  the  life  of  the  author  in  the  second 
volume  of  an  edition  of  Bacon's  Essays  edited  by 
Dr.  William  Willymott,  published  by  Henry  Parson  in 
1720.  After  an  interval  of  about  60  years  a  new  design 
is  made,  which  is  not  one  of  those  employed  by  Bacon. 
By  means  of  these  devices  a  certain  number  of  books 
may  be  identified  as  forming  a  class  by  themselves. 

There  is  another  feature  connected  with  them  which 
is  of  special  interest.  One  man  appears  to  have  con- 
tributed to  all  the  books  thus  marked — either  the  dedi- 
cation, the  preface,*  or  the  lines  "  To  the  Reader  "  ;  in 
some  cases  all  three.  It  may  be  urged  in  opposition  to 
this  view  that  in  those  days  there  was  a  form  in  which 
dedications  and  prefaces  were  written,  and  that  this 
was  more  or  less  followed  by  many  writers,  but  this 
contention  will  not  stand  investigation.  There  are 
tricks  of  phrasing  and  other  peculiarities  which  enable 
certain  literary  productions  to  be  identified  as  the  work 
of  one  man.  Some  of  the  finest  Elizabethan  literature 

0  In  the  "Advancement  of  Learning  "  Bacon  says  that  Demos- 
thenes went  so  far  iu  regard  to  the  great  force  that  the  entrance 
and  access  into  a  cause  had  to  make  a  good  impression  that  he 
kept  in  readiness  a  stock  of  prefaces. 


138       THE  MYSTERY  OF  FRANCIS  BACON. 

is  to  be  found  in  the  prefaces  and  dedications  in  these 
books. 

The  theory  now  put  forth  is  that  Francis  Bacon  was 
directing  the  production  of  a  great  quantity  of  the 
Elizabethan  literature,  and  in  every  book  in  the  pro- 
duction of  which  he  was  interested,  he  caused  to  be  in- 
serted one  of  these  devices.  He  kept  the  blocks  in  his 
own  custody ;  he  sent  them  out  to  a  printer  when  a 
book  was  approved  by  him  for  printing.  On  the  com- 
pletion of  the  work,  the  printer  returned  the  blocks  to 
Bacon  so  that  they  could  be  sent  elsewhere  by  him  as 
occasion  required. 

The  most  elaborate  of  the  AA  designs  is  Figure  XII., 
and  the  writer  has  only  found  it  in  one  volume.  It  is 
"Le  Historie  della  Citta  Di  Fiorenza,"  by  M.  Jacopo, 
published  in  Lyons  by  Theobald  Ancelin  in  1582. 

"  Exact  was  his  correspondence  abroad  and  at  home, 
constant  his  Letters,  frequent  his  Visits,  great  his 
obligations,"  states  the  contemporary  biographer,  speak- 
ing of  Francis  Bacon.  It  is  difficult  to  arrive  at  the 
exact  meaning  of  these  words.  There  is  little  corre- 
spondence with  those  abroad  remaining,  no  record  of 
visits,  no  particulars  of  the  great  obligations  into  which 
he  entered.  In  the  dedication  of  the  1631  edition  of 
the  "Histoire  Naturelle  "  to  Monseigneur  de  Chasteau- 
neuf,  the  author  speaking  ot  Bacon  writes: — "  Le 
Chancelier,  qu'on  a  fait  venir  tant  de  fois  en  France, 
n'a  point  encore  quitte  1'Angleterre  avec  tant  de 
passion  de  nous  decouvrir  ses  merveilles  que  depuis 
qu'il  a  sceu  le  rang  dont  on  avoit  reconnu  vos  vertus." 

These  frequent  visits  to  France  are  unrecorded  else- 
where, but  here  is  definite  testimony  that  they  were 
made. 

There  are  good  grounds  for  believing  that  Bacon  was 
throughout  his  life,  until  their  deaths,  in  constant  com- 
munication with  Christopher  Plantin  (1514 — 1589), 
Aldus  Manutius,  Henry  Stephen  (1528 — 1598),  and  also 


HOW   BACON    MARKED   BOOKS.  139 

with  Robert  Stephens  the  third  (1563 — 1640).  All  these 
men  were  not  only  printers,  but  brilliant  scholars  and 
writers.  If  search  be  made,  it  is  quite  possible  that 
correspondence  or  other  evidence  of  their  friendship 
may  come  to  light.  Be  that  as  it  may,  there  were 
undoubtedly  a  number  of  books  published  on  the  conti- 
nent between  1576  and  1630  which  in  the  sparta  upon 
them  bear  testimony  to  Bacon's  association  with  their 
publication. 

The  following  are  instances  of  where  the  several 
designs  which  are  reproduced  may  be  found.  They 
however  occur  in  many  other  volumes. 

Figure     IX.— "The  Arte  of  English  Poesie,"  1589. 
„      XIII.—"  Orlando  Furioso,"  1607. 
„      XIV. — Spencer's  "  Fairie  Queen." 
,,        XV. — "Florentine  History  translation,  1595, 
and    1636    edition    of    Barclay's 
"  Argenis." 
XI— "Sonnets." 

„       XVI.— Simon  Pateriche's  translation  of  "  Dis- 
course against  Machiavel." 

,,     XVII.— Lodge's  translation  of  "  Seneca,"  1614. 
„  XVIII.— Shakespeare  Folio,  1623. 
„      XIX. — "  Dsmonologie,"  1603. 

XX— Alciat's    "Emblems,"     published     in 
Paris,  1584. 


140 


CHAPTER  XIX. 
BACON     AND    EMBLEMATA. 

IN  "Shakespeare  and  the  Emblem  Writers"  the  Rev. 
Henry  Green  endeavours  to  show  the  similarities  of 
thought  and  expression  between  the  great  poet  and  the 
authors  of  Emblemata,  but  the  line  of  enquiry  which 
he  there  opened  does  not  appear  to  have  been  followed 
by  subsequent  writers.  To-day  the  Emblemata  litera- 
ture is  a  terra  incognita  except  to  a  very  few  students, 
and  yet  it  is  full  of  interest,  romance,  and  mystery. 
Emblem  literature  may  be  said  to  have  had  its  origin 
with  Andrea  Alciat,  the  celebrated  Italian  jurisconsult, 
who  was  famous  for  his  great  knowledge  and  power  of 
mind.  In  1522  he  published  at  Milan  an  "  Emblematum 
Libellus,"  or  Little  Book  of  Emblems.  Green  says  : 
"It  established,  if  it  did  not  introduce,  a  new  style  of 
emblem  literature,  the  classical  in  the  place  of  the 
simply  grotesque  and  humorous,  or  of  the  heraldic  and 
mythic."  The  first  edition  now  known  to  exist  was 
published  at  Augsburg  in  1531,  a  small  octavo  con- 
taining eighty-eight  pages  with  ninety-seven  emblems, 
and  as  many  woodcuts.  It  was  from  time  to  time 
augmented,  and  passed  through  many  editions.  For 
some  years  the  Emblemata  appears  to  have  been  pro- 
duced chiefly  by  Italians,  with  a  few  Frenchmen.  Until 
the  last  half  of  the  sixteenth  century  the  output  of  books 
of  this  character  was  not  large.  Thenceforth  for  the 
next  hundred  years  the  creation  of  emblems  became  a 
popular  form  of  literary  exercise.  The  Italians  con- 
tinued to  be  prolific,  but  Dutch,  French,  and  German 
scholars  were  but  little  behind  them.  There  were  a  few 
Englishmen  and  Spaniards  who  also  practised  the  art. 


BACON   AND   EMBLEMATA.  14! 

In  1905  was  published  a  book  called  "  Letters  from 
the  Dead  to  the  Dead,"  by  Oliver  Lector.  In  it  atten- 
tion is  drawn  to  the  remarkable  features  of  some  of  the 
books  on  emblems  printed  during  Bacon's  life,  and  to 
the  evidence  that  he  was  in  some  manner  connected 
with  the  publication  of  many  of  these  volumes.  The 
author  claims  this  to  be  especially  the  case  with  the 
"Emblemata  Moralia  et  Bellica,"  1615,  of  Jacob  de 
Bruck,  of  Angermundt,  and  the  "  Emblemata  Ethic 
Politica"  of  J.  Bornitius. 

The  emblem  pictures  for  the  most  part  appear  to  be 
picture  puzzles.  In  the  "  Critique  upon  the  Mythology 
of  the  Ancients  "  Bacon  says  : — 

"  It  may  pass  for  a  farther  indication  of  a  concealed  and  secret 
meaning,  that  some  of  these  fables  are  so  absurd  and  idle  in 
their  narration  as  to  proclaim  and  shew  an  allegory  afar  off.  A 
fable  that  carries  probability  with  it  may  be  supposed  invented 
for  pleasure,  or  in  imitation  of  history  ;  but,  those  that  would 
never  be  conceived  or  related  in  this  way,  must  surely  have  a 
different  use.1' 

If  this  line  of  reasoning  be  applied  to  the  illustrations  in 
the  emblem  books,  it  is  clear  that  they  conceal  some 
hidden  meaning,  for  they  are  apparently  unintelligible, 
and  the  accompanying  letterpress  does  not  afford  any 
illumination. 

Jean  Baudoin  was  the  translator  of  Bacon's  "  Essaies  " 
into  the  French  language  (1626).  Baudoin  published 
in  1638 — 9  "  Recueil  D'Emblemes  divers  avec  des  Dis- 
cours  Moraux,  Philos.  et  Polit."  In  the  preface  he 
says  :  "  Le  grand  chancelier  Bacon  m'ayant  fait  naitre 
1'envie  de  travailler  a  ces  emblemes  .  .  .  nVen  a  fourni 
les  principaux  que  j'ai  tires  de  1'explication  ingenieuse 
qu'il  a  donnee  de  quelques  fables  et  de  ses  autres 
ouvrages."  Here  is  definite  evidence  of  Bacon's  asso- 
ciation with  a  book  of  emblems. 

The  first  volume  of  Emblemata  in  which  traces  of 
Bacon's  hand  are  to  be  found  is  the  1577  edition  of 


142  THE   MYSTERY  OF  FRANCIS   BACON. 

Alciat's  "Emblems,"  published  by  the  Plantin  Press, 
with  notes  by  Claude  Mignault.  It  is  in  this  edition,  in 
Emblem  No.  45,  "  In  dies  meliora,"  that  for  the  first 
time  the  light  A  and  the  dark  A  is  to  be  found.  In 
previous  editions  this  device  is  absent.  For  this  volume 
a  new  design  has  been  engraved  in  which  it  appears. 

In  the  emblem  books  written  in  Italian  Bacon  does 
not  appear  to  have  been  concerned,  unless  an  exception 
be  made  of  Ripa's  "  Iconologia,"  a  copy  of  which  con- 
tains his  handwriting  and  initials.  In  some  way  he  had 
control  of  a  large  number  of  those  written  in  Latin,  and 
bearing  names  of  Dutch,  French,  and  some  Italian 
authors,  and  also  of  several  written  in  Dutch  and  of 
the  English  writers.  The  field  is  a  very  wide  one,  and 
only  a  few  of  the  principal  examples  can  be  mentioned. 

The  most  important  work  is  the  "  Emblemata  Moralia 
et  Bellica  "  of  Jacob  a  Bruck,  of  Angermundt,  1615. 
"Argentorati  per  Jacobum  ab  Heyden."  With  many 
of  the  designs  in  this  volume  Oliver  Lector  has  dealt 
fully  in  "Letters  from  the  Dead  to  the  Dead,"'5  before 
referred  to.  There  is  another  volume  bearing  the  name 
of  Jacob  a  Bruck,  published  in  1598.  Only  one  copy  ot 
this  book  is  known  to  be  in  existence,  and  that  is  in 
the  Royal  Library  of  St.  Petersburg. 

The  "Emblemata  Ethico  Politica  of  Jacobus  Borni- 
tius,  1659,  Moguntiae,"  is  remarkable  because  many  of 
the  engravings  contain  portraits  of  Bacon,  namely,  in 
Sylloge  Prima,  Plates  Nos.  vii.,  xxiii.,  xliv.,  xlv.,  xlvix. ; 
and  in  Sylloge  II.,  Plates  ix.  and  xxxvi.  Oliver  Lector 
says:  "I  have  not  met  with  an  earlier  edition  of 
Bornitius  than  1659.  My  conjecture,  however,  is 
that  the  manuscript  came  into  the  hands  of  Gruter 
with  other  of  Bacon's  published  by  him  in  the  year 

1653." 

There  are  two  productions  of  Janus  Jacobus  Boissardus 
in  which  Bacon's  hand  may  be  recognised — "  Emblemes 

*  Bernard  Quaritch,  1905. 


BACON   AND   EMBLEMATA.  143 

Latines  avec  1'Interpretation  Franchise  du  I.  Pierre  loly 
Messin.  Metis,  1588,"  and  "  Emblematum  liber.  Ipsa 
Emblemata  ab  Auctore  delineata  :  a  Theodoro  de  Bry 
sculpta  et  nunc  recens  in  lucem  edita,"  1593,  Frankfort. 
Two  editions  of  the  latter  were  printed  in  the  same 
year.  The  title-pages  are  identical,  and  the  same  plates 
have  been  used  throughout,  but  the  letterpress  is  in 
Latin  in  the  one,  and  in  French  in  the  other.  In  both, 
the  dedications  are  addressed  in  French  to  Madame  de 
Clervent,  Baronne  de  Coppet,  etc.  The  dedication 
of  the  former  bears  the  name  Jan  Jacques  Boissard  at 
the  head,  and  addresses  the  lady  as  "que  come  estes 
addonnee  a  la  speculation  des  choses  qui  appartiennent 
a  1'instruction  de  Tame."  The  dedication  of  the  latter 
is  signed  loly,  who  explains  that  he  has  translated  the 
verses  into  French,  so  that  they  may  be  of  more  service 
to  the  dedicatee. 

Otho  Van  Veen  enjoys  the  distinction  of  having  had 
Rubens  for  a  disciple.  A  considerable  number  of 
emblem  books  emanated  from  him.  In  1608  were  pub- 
lished at  Antwerp  two  editions  of  his  "Amorum  Em- 
blemata." In  one  copy  the  verses  are  in  Latin,  German, 
and  French,  and  in  the  other  in  Latin,  English,  and 
Italian.  There  are  commendatory  verses  in  the  latter, 
two  of  which  are  by  Daniel  Heinsius  and  R.  V.,  who 
was  Robert  Verstegen,  the  author  of  "  A  Restitution  of 
Decayed  Intelligence  in  Antiquities."  The  dedication 
is  "To  the  most  honourable  and  worthie  brothers 
William  Earle  of  Pembroke,  and  Phillip  Earle  of  Mont- 
gomerie,  patrons  of  learning  and  chevalrie,"  who  are 
" the  most  noble  and  incomparable  paire  of  brethren" 
to  whom  the  1623  Shakespeare  Folio  was  dedicated. 
In  this  volume  Bacon  has  left  his  marks. 

"  Emblemata  door  Zacharias  Heyns,"  published  in 
Rotterdam  in  1625,  comprises  four  books  bound  to- 
gether. The  inscriptions  over  the  plates  are  in  Latin. 
The  letterpress,  which  is  in  Dutch  and  French, 


144       THE  MYSTERY  OF  FRANCIS  BACON. 

apparently  bears  very  little   reference  to  the  illustra- 
tions. 

Johannis  de  Brunes  I.C.  Emblemata  of  Sinne-Werck, 
Amsterdam,  1624,  is  written  in  Dutch.  Emblem  VIII. 
contains  an  indication  that  the  number  1623  is  a  key. 

The  "  Silenus  Alcibiades  sive  Proteus  "  was  published 
at  Middleburgh  in  1618.  There  is  no  author's  name  on 
the  title-page,  but  the  Voor-reden,  written  in  Dutch,  is 
signed  J.  Cats.  Attached  to  two  of  the  preliminary 
complimentary  verses  are  the  names  of  Daniel  Heyns 
and  Josuah  Sylvester,  the  translator  of  "Du  Bartas." 
The  verses  are  in  Latin,  Dutch,  and  French.  Im- 
mediately following  the  title-page  is  a  preface  in  Latin, 
signed  by  Majores  de  Baptis.  Over  this  is  the  familiar 
emblem  containing  the  archers,  rabbits,  and  dogs,  with 
the  note  of  query  on  the  right-hand  side,  and  the 
message  on  the  arrow.  This  volume  is  one  of  the 
most  remarkable  of  the  emblem  books.  The  Latin 
preface  is  autobiographical.  If  the  writer  can  be 
identified  as  the  author  of  "Venus  and  Adonis,"  it 
becomes  one  of  the  most  important  contributions  to  his 
biography. 

In  1616,  the  year  of  Shakespeare's  death,  was  pub- 
lished at  Amsterdam  a  book  bearing  on  its  title-page  the 
inscription:  "Cornelii  Giselberti  Plempii  Amstero- 
damum  Monogrammon."  It  contains  fifty  illustrations, 
with  Latin  verses  attached.  Emblem  I.  is  reproduced 
(Fig.  V.)  On  reference  to  it,  it  will  be  seen  that  Fortune 
stands  on  a  globe,  and  with  one  hand  is  pushing  off 
from  the  pinnacle  of  fame  a  man  dressed  as  a  player  with 
a  feather  in  his  hat ;  with  the  other  hand  she  is  raising 
up  a  man  who  is  wearing  the  Bacon  hat,  but  whose  face 
is  hidden.  The  prophecy  expressed  by  the  emblem  is  now 
being  fulfilled.  It  will  be  seen  that  the  initial  letters  of 
each  word  in  the  sentence  of  the  letterpress — Obscaenum- 
que  nimis  crepuit,  Fortuna  Batavis  appellanda — yield  F. 
Bacon.  Bacon's  portrait  is  found  in  several  of  the 


C.  PLEMPII. 

EMBLEMATA 

E  M  B  L.     I. 


-   V. 


Tor  tuna  :  manu  quos  rupem  duett  ina 

Pr&cipites  abigit :  camtpcina  Dea  eft. 
Firmaglobo  imponi  voluerunt  fata  caducam, 

fpfa  cpioque  utpoflet  n^Us^  ^  effi  locus. 
Oltm  unffos  Safy  tjui  prafllterc  per  utres^ 

Rtdebant  caderetfi  quapuella  mate. 
O  qttamfipe piles, plat* famque  merentc  ruina 

Embmt  vttiwnfors  inhoncftapium  \ 
Obfccenumque  nimis  crepuityForttwa  Batavit 

Appdhnda  •  finotfuo  faa  curtx  vacant- 
Quoquefono  veteres  oltmfaafurta  Latim : 

Vt  nec>HQ;nerejndt  VQinen  o  tor  is ' 


O    j 


146  THE   MYSTERY  OF   FRANCIS   BACON. 

illustrations  in  this  book.  Other  emblem  writers  whose 
works  bear  traces  of  Bacon's  co-operation  are  G.  Rol- 
lenhagen,  J.  Camerius,  J.  Typotius,  D.  Hensius. 

There  yet  remain  to  be  mentioned  two  English  emblem 
writers.  A  "Choice  of  Emblems"  by  Geffrey  Whitney  was 
published  in  1586  by  Francis  Raphelengius  in  the  house 
of  Christopher  Plantin  at  Leyden.  The  dedication  is  to 
Robert  Earle  of  Leicester.  There  are  only  from  fifteen 
to  twenty  original  designs  out  of  166  illustrations.  The 
remainder  are  taken  from  other  emblem  writers,  chiefly 
from  Alciat,  Sambucus,  Paradin,  and  Hadrian  Junius. 
On  page  53  is  the  design  headed  "In  dies  meliora " 
found  in  the  1577  edition  of  Alciat,  but  the  letterpress, 
which  is  in  English,  is  quite  different  from  the  Latin 
verse  attached  to  it  in  the  Alciat. 

The  "  Minerva  Britanna "  of  Henry  Peacham  was 
published  in  1612.  The  emblem  on  the  title-page* 
represents  the  great  secret  of  Francis  Bacon's  life,  and 
on  page  "33  is  an  emblem  in  which  the  name  Shake- 
speare is  represented.  The  volume  is  full  of  devices 
which  will  amply  repay  a  careful  study. 

Apart  from  any  connection  which  Bacon  may  have 
had  with  this  remarkable  class  of  books,  they  are  of 
great  interest  to  the  student  of  the  Elizabethan  and 
Jacobean  periods.  They  contain  pictorial  representa- 
tions full  of  information  as  to  the  habits  and  customs  of 
the  people.  With  the  exception  of  Whitney's  "  Choice 
of  Emblems,"  a  facsimile  reprint  of  which  was  published 
in  1866,  edited  by  the  Rev.  Henry  Green,  no  reprint  of 
any  of  these  curious  books  has  been  issued.  As  the 
original  editions  of  many  of  them  are  very  rare,  and  of 
none  of  them  plentiful,  their  study  is  a  matter  of  diffi- 
culty, and  few  students  find  their  way  to  this  fascinating 
field  of  research.  How  close  Bacon's  connection  was 
with  the  writers  of  these  books,  or  with  their  pub- 
lishers, it  is  difficult  to  say,  but  there  is  considerable 

0  See  page  105. 


BACON   AND   EMBLEMATA.  147 

evidence  that  in  some  way  he  was  able  to  introduce 
into  every  one  of  the  books  here  enumerated,  and 
many  others,  some  plates  illustrative  of  his  inductive 
philosophy. 


148 


CHAPTER   XX. 
SHAKESPEARE'S     SONNETS. 

"SHAKESPEARE'S  SONNETS  never  before  Imprinted," 
have  afforded  commentators  material  for  many  volumes 
filled  with  theories  which  to  the  ordinary  critical  mind 
appear  to  have  no  foundation  in  fact.  Chapters  have 
been  written  to  prove  that  Mr.  W.  H.,  the  only  begetter 
of  the  Sonnets,  was  Henry  Wriothesley,  Earl  of 
Southampton,  and  chapters  have  been  written  to  prove 
that  he  was  no  such  person,  but  that  William  Herbert, 
Earl  of  Pembroke,  was  the  man  intended  to  be  desig- 
nated. Theories  have  been  elaborated  to  identify  the 
individuals  represented  by  the  Rival  Poet  and  the  dark 
Lady.  Not  one  of  these  theories  is  supported  by  the 
vestige  of  a  shred  of  testimony  that  would  stand  in- 
vestigation. There  has  not  come  down  any  evidence 
that  Shakspur,  of  Stratford,  knew  either  the  Earl  of 
Southampton,  the  Earl  of  Pembroke  or  Marie  Fitton. 
The  truth  is  that  Mr.  W.  H.  was  Shakespeare,  who  was 
the  only  begetter  of  the  Sonnets,  and  the  proof  of  this 
statement  will  in  due  time  be  forthcoming.  It  may  be 
well  to  try  and  read  some  of  the  Sonnets  as  they  stand 
and  endeavour  to  realise  what  is  the  obvious  meaning 
of  the  printed  words. 

The  key  to  the  Sonnets  will  be  found  in  No.  62.  The 
language  in  which  it  is  written  is  explicit  and  capable 
of  being  understood  by  any  ordinary  intellect. 

"  Sinne  of  selfe-love  possesseth  al  mine  eie 
And  all  my  soulc,  and  al  my  every  part  ; 
And  for  this  sinne  there  is  no  remedie, 
It  is  so  grounded  inward  in  my  heart. 
Me  thinkes  no  face  so  gratious  is  as  mine, 
No  shape  so  true,  no  truth  of  such  account, 


SHAKESPEARE'S  SONNETS.  149 

And  for  my  selfe  mine  owne  worth  do  define, 
As  I  all  other  in  all  worth's  surmount 
But  when  my  glasse  shewes  me  my  selfe  indeed 
Beated  and  chopt  with  tand  antiquitie, 
Mine  own  selfe  love  quite  contrary  I  read 
Selfe,  so  selfe  loving  were  iniquity. 

Tis  thee  (my-selfe)  that  for  myself  I  praise 
Painting  my  age  with  beauty  of  thy  daies." 

The  writer  here  states  definitely  that  he  is  domi- 
nated by  the  sin  of  self-love ;  it  possesseth  his  eye,  his 
soul,  and  every  part  of  him.  There  can  be  found  no 
remedy  for  it ;  it  is  so  grounded  in  his  heart.  No  face  is 
so  gracious  as  is  his,  no  shape  so  true,  no  truth  of  such 
account.  He  defines  his  worth  as  surmounting  that  of 
all  others.  This  is  the  frank  expression  of  a  man  who 
not  only  believed  that  he  was,  but  knew  that  he  was 
superior  to  all  his  contemporaries,  not  only  in  intellectual 
power,  but  in  personal  appearance.  Then  comes  an 
arrest  in  the  thought,  and  he  realises  that  time  has  been 
at  work.  He  has  been  picturing  himself  as  he  was  when 
a  young  man.  He  turns  to  his  glass  and  sees  himself 
beated  and  chopt  with  tanned  antiquity ;  forty  summers 
have  passed  over  his  brow.* 

Francis  Bacon  at  forty  years  of  age,  or  thereabouts, 
unmarried,  childless,  sits  down  to  his  table,  Hilliard's 
portrait  before  him,  with  pen  in  hand,  full  of  self-love, 
full  of  admiration  for  that  beautiful  youth  on  whose 
counterfeit  presentment  he  is  gazing.  His  intellectual 
triumphs  pass  in  review  before  him,  most  of  them  known 
only  to  himself  and  that  youth — his  companion  through 
life.  That  was  the  Francis  Bacon  who  controlled  him 
in  all  his  comings  and  goings — his  ideal  whom  he 
worshipped.  If  he  could  have  a  son  like  that  boy  !  His 
pen  begins  to  move  on  the  paper — 

"  From  fairest  creatures  we  desire  increase 
That  thereby  beauty's  rose  might  never  die, 

0  Sonnet  No.  2. 


150  THE   MYSTERY   OF   FRANCIS   BACON. 

But  as  the  riper  should  by  time  decrease 
His  tender  heire  might  bear  his  memory." 

The  pen   stops   and   the   writer's  eye   wanders   to  the 
miniature  : — 

"  But  thou*  contracted  to  thine  own  bright  eyes.'1 

And  so  the  Sonnets  flow  on,  without  effort,  without 
the  need  of  reference  to  authorities,  for  the  great,  fixed 
and  methodical  memory  needs  none. 

How  natural  are  the  allusions — 

"Thou  art  thy  mother's  glasse  and  she  in  thee 
Calls  backe  the  lovely  Aprill  of  her  prime." 


"  Be  as  thy  presence  is,  gracious  and  kind, 
Or  to  thyselfe  at  least  kind  hearted  prove. 
Make  thee  another  self,  for  love  of  me 
That  beauty  may  still  live  in  thine  or  thee." 


"  Let  those  whom  nature  hath  not  made  for  store, 
Harsh,  featureless  aud  rude,  barrenly  perish  ; 
Look,  whom  she  best  indow'd  she  gave  the  more  ; 
Which  bountious  guift  thou  shouldst  in  bounty  cherrish 
She  carv'd  thee  for  her  scale,  and  ment  therby 
Thou  shouldst  print  more,  not  let  that  coppy  die." 


"  O  that  you  were  yourselfe,  but  love  you  are 
No  longer  yours,  then  you  yourselfe  here  live, 
Against  this  cunning  end  you  should  prepare, 
And  your  sweet  semblance  to  some  other  give 

Who  lets  so  faire  a  house  fall  to  decay 

O  none  but  unthrifts,  deare  my  love  you  know 
You  had  a  Father,  let  your  Son  say  so." 

"  But  wherefore  do  not  you  a  mightier  waie 
Make  warre  uppon  this  bloodie  tirant  Time  ? 
And  fortifie  your  selfe  in  your  decay 

3  'Tis  thee  myself c,  Sonnet  62. 


SHAKESPEARE  S   SONNETS.  151 

With  meanes  more  blessed,  then  my  barren  rime  P 
Now  stand  you  on  the  top  of  happie  houres 
And  many  maiden  gardens,  yet  onset, 
With  virtuous  wish  would  beare  you  living  flowers 
Much  liker  than  your  painted  counterfeit: 


Who  will  belceve  my  verses  in  time  to  come 

If  it  were  fil'd  with  your  most  high  deserts  ? 

Though  yet  heaven  knows,  it  is  but  as  a  tombe 

Which  hides  your  life,  and  shewes  not  halfe  your  parts  : 

If  I  could  write  the  beauty  of  your  eyes 

And  in  fresh  numbers  number  all  your  graces, 

The  age  to  come  would  say  this  Poet  lies, 

Such  heavenly  touches  nere  toucht  earthly  faces. 

So  should  my  papers  (yellowed  with  their  age) 

Be  scorn'd,  like  old  men  of  lesse  truth  than  tongue, 

And  your  true  rights  be  termd  a  Poets  rage 

And  stretched  miter  of  an  Antique  song. 

But  were  some  childe  of  yours  alive  that  time, 
You  should  live  twise,  in  it  and  in  my  rime.'1 


"  Yet  doe  thy  worst,  ould  Time,  dispight  thy  wrong 
My  love  shall  in  my  verse  ever  live  young." 

He  realises  that  he  no  longer  answers  Ophelia's 
description : 

"  The  courtier's,  soldier's,  scholar's  eye,  tongue,  sword  : 
The  expectancy  and  rose  of  the  fair  state 
The  glass  of  fashion  and  the  mould  of  form, 
The  observed  of  all  observers.     .     .     . 
That  unmatch'd  form  and  feature  of  blown  youth." 

But  he  cannot  forget  what  he  has  been,  he  cannot 
realise  that  he  is  no  longer  the  brilliant  youth  whose 
miniature  he  has  before  him,  with  the  words  inscribed 
around,  "  Si  tabula  daretur  digna  animum  mallem  " 
— If  materials  could  be  found  worthy  to  paint  his  mind 
("  O  could  he  but  have  drawn  his  wit  ")  and  then  with 
a  burst  of  poetic  enthusiasm  he  exclaims  :— 

"Tis  thee  (myselfe)  that  for  myselfe  I  praise, 
Painting  my  age  with  beauty  of  thy  daies." 


152  THE   MYSTERY   OF   FRANCIS   BACON. 

This  is  the  common  experience  of  a  man  as  he 
advances  in  life.  So  long  as  he  does  not  see  his  reflec- 
tion in  a  glass,  if  he  tries  to  visualize  himself,  he  sees 
the  youth  or  young  man.  Only  in  his  most  pessimistic 
moments  does  he  realise  his  age. 

There  is  no  longer  any  difficulty  in  understanding 
Shakespeare's  Sonnets.  They  were  addressed  by 
"Shakespeare,"  the  poet,  to  the  marvellous  youth  who 
was  known  under  the  name  of  Francis  Bacon,  and  they 
were  written,  with  Milliard's  portrait  placed  on  his  table 
before  him. 

In  that  age  (please  God  it  may  be  the  present  age), 
which  is  known  only  to  God  and  to  the  fates  when  the 
finishing  touch  shall  be  given  to  Bacon's  fame,*  it  will 
be  found  that  the  period  of  his  life  from  twelve  to  thirty- 
five  years  of  age  surpassed  all  others,  not  only  in  bril- 
liant intellectual  achievements,  but  for  the  enduring 
wealth  with  which  he  endowed  his  countrymen.  And 
yet  it  was  part  of  his  scheme  of  life  that  his  connection 
with  the  great  renaissance  in  English  literature  should 
lie  hidden  until  posterity  should  recognise  that  work  as 
the  fruit  of  his  brain  : — "  Mente  Videbor  " — "  by  the 
mind  I  shall  be  seen." 

How  lacking  all  his  modern  biographers  have  been  in 
perception  ! 

Every  difficulty  in  those  which  are  termed  the  pro- 
creation Sonnets  disappears  with  the  application  of  this 
key.  Only  by  it  can  Sonnet  22  be  made  intelligible  : — 

"  My  glass  shall  not  persuade  me  I  am  old, 
As  long  as  youth  and  thou  are  of  one  date  ; 
But  when  in  thee  time's  furrow  I  behold, 
Then  look,  I  death  my  days  would  expirate 
For  all  that  beauty  that  doth  cover  thee 
Is  but  the  steady  raiment  of  my  heart. 
Which  in  my  breast  doth  live,  as  thine  in  me. 
How  can  I  then  be  older  than  thou  art  ? 

0  See  Rawley's  Introduction  to  "  Manes  Verulamiana." 


SHAKESPEARE'S  SONNETS.  153 

O,  therefore,  love,  be  of  thyself  so  wary 
As  I,  not  for  myself,  but  for  thee  will ; 
Bearing  thy  heart,  which  I  will  keep  so  chary 
As  tender  nurse  her  babe  from  faring  ill. 

Presume  not  on  thy  heart  when  mine  is  slain  ; 

Thou  gavest  me  thine,  not  to  give  back  again." 

But  nearly  every  Sonnet  might  be  quoted  in  support 
of  this  view.  Especially  is  it  of  value  in  bringing  an 
intelligent  and  allowable  explanation  to  Sonnets  40, 
41,  and  42,  which  now  no  longer  have  an  unsavoury 
flavour. 

Sonnet  No.  59  is  most  noteworthy,  because  it  implies 
a  belief  in  re-incarnation.  Shakespeare  expresses  his 
longing  to  know  what  the  ancients  would  have  said  of 
his  marvellous  intellect.  If  he  could  find  his  picture  in 
some  antique  book  over  500  years  old,  see  an  image  of 
himself  as  he  then  was,  and  learn  what  men  thought  of 
him  ! 

"  If  their  bee  nothing  new,  but  that  which  is 
Hath  beene  before,  how  are  our  braines  begulld, 
Which  laboring  for  invention,  beare  amisse 
The  second  burthen  of  a  former  child  ? 
Oh  that  record  could  with  a  back-ward  looke, 
Even  of  five  hundredth  courses  of  the  Sunne, 
Show  me  your  image  in  some  antique  booke, 
Since  minde  at  first  in  carrecter  was  done, 
That  I  might  see  what  the  old  world  could  say 
To  this  composed  wonder  of  your  frame  ; 
Whether  we  are  mended,  or  where  better  they, 
Or  whether  revolution  be  the  same. 
Oh  sure  I  am,  the  wits  of  former  daics, 
To  subjects  worse  have  given  admiring  praise." 

There  is  the  same  idea  in  Sonnet  71,  which  suggests 
that  in  some  future  re-incarnation  Bacon  might  read 
Shakespeare's  praises  of  him. 

Conjectures  as  to  who  was  the  rival  poet  may  be 
dispensed  with.  The  following  rendering  of  Sonnet 
No.  80  makes  this  perfectly  clear  : — 


154       THE  MYSTERY  OF  FRANCIS  BACON. 

"O  how  I  (the  poet]  faint  when  I  of  you  (F.B.)  do  write, 
Knowing  a  better  spirit  (that  of  the  philosopher)  doth  use  your 

name 

And  in  the  praise  thereof  spends  all  his  might 
To  make  me  tongue  tied,  speaking  of  your  fame  ! 

(Shakespeare  never  refers  to  Bacon  or  vice-versa) 
But  since  your  (F.B.'s)  worth  wide  as  the  ocean  is, 
The  humble  as  the  proudest  sail  doth  bear, 
My  saucy  bark  (that  of  the  poet)  inferior  far  to  his  (that  of  the 

philosopher), 

On  your  broad  main  doth  wilfully  appear. 
Your  shallowest  help  will  hold  me  (the  poet)  up  afloat 
Whilst   he   (the  philosopher)  upon   your  soundless  deep  doth 

ride." 

It  is  impossible  to  do  justice  to  this  subject  in  the 
space  here  available.  By  the  aid  of  this  key  every  line 
becomes  intelligible.  The  charm  and  beauty  of  the 
Sonnets  are  increased  tenfold.  Every  unpleasant 
association  of  them  is  removed.  No  longer  need 
Browning  say,  "  If  so  the  less  Shakespeare  he." 

These  are  not  "Shakespeare's  sug'rd*  Sonnets 
amongst  his  private  friends  "  to  which  Meres  makes 
reference.  They  are  to  be  found  elsewhere. 

If  there  had  been  an  intelligent  study  of  Elizabethan 
literature  from  original  sources  the  authorship  of  the 
Sonnets  would  have  been  revealed  long  ago.  It  was  a 
habit  of  Bacon  to  speak  of  himself  as  some  one  apart 
from  the  speaker.  The  opening  sentence  of  Filum 
Labyrinthi,  Sivo  Forma  Inquisitiones  is  an  example. 
Ad  Filios — "  Francis  Bacon  thought  in  this  manner." 
Prefixed  to  the  preface  to  Gilbert  Wats'  interpretation 
of  the  "  Advancement  of  Learning  "  is  a  chapter  com- 
mencing, "  Francis  Lo  Verulam  consulted  thus  :  and 
thus  concluded  with  himselfe.  The  publication  whereof 
he  conceived  did  concern  the  present  and  future  age." 

0  The  expression  "sugr'd  Sonnets"  refers  to  verses  which  were 
written  with  coloured  ink  to  which  sugar  had  been  added.  When 
dry  the  writing  shone  brightly. 


SHAKESPEARE'S  SONNETS.  155 

Nothing  that  has  been  written  is  more  perfectly 
Baconian  in  style  and  temperament  than  are  the  Son- 
nets. They  breathe  out  his  hopes,  his  aspirations,  his 
ideals,  his  fears,  in  every  line.  He  knew  he  was  not  for 
his  time.  He  knew  future  generations  only  would  render 
him  the  fame  to  which  his  incomparable  powers  entitled 
him.  He  knew  how  far  he  towered  above  his  contem- 
poraries, aye,  and  his  predecessors,  in  intellectual 
power.  His  hopes  were  fixed  on  that  day  in  the  distant 
future — to-day — when  for  the  first  time  the  meshes 
which  he  wove,  behind  which  his  life's  work  is  obscured, 
are  beginning  to  be  unravelled. 

The  most  sanguine  Baconian,  in  his  most  enthusi- 
astic moments,  must  fail  adequately  to  appreciate  the 
achievements  of  Francis  Bacon  and  the  obligations 
under  which  he  has  placed  posterity.  But  Bacon  knew 
— and  he  alone  knew — their  full  value.  It  was  fitting 
that  the  greatest  poet  which  the  world  had  produced 
should  in  matchless  verse  do  honour  to  the  world's 
greatest  intellect.  It  was  a  pretty  conceit.  Only  a 
master  mind  would  dare  to  make  the  attempt.  The 
result  has  afforded  another  example  of  how  his  great 
wit,  in  being  concealed,  was  revealed. 


156 


CHAPTER  XXI. 
BACON'S     LIBRARY. 

IN  the  "Advancement  of  Learning"  Bacon  refers  to 
the  annotations  of  books  as  being  deficient.  There  was 
living  at  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  and  beginning  of  the 
seventeenth  century  a  scholar  through  whose  hands  at 
least  several  thousand  books  passed.  He  appears  to 
have  made  a  practice  of  annotating  in  the  margins  every 
book  he  read.  The  chief  purpose,  however,  of  the 
notes,  apparently,  was  to  aid  the  memory,  for  in  some 
books  nearly  every  name  occurring  in  the  text  is  carried 
into  the  margin  without  comment.  The  notes  are  also 
accompanied  by  scrolls,  marks,  and  brackets,  which 
support  the  contention  that  they  are  the  work  of  one 
man.  The  annotation  of  books  was  not  a  common 
practice  then,  nor  has  it  been  since.  If  a  reader  takes 
up  a  hundred  books  in  a  second-hand  book  shop  he 
will  probably  not  find  more  than  one  containing  manu- 
script notes,  and  not  one  in  five  hundred  in  which  the 
annotations  have  been  systematically  carried  through. 
There  does  not  appear  to  have  been  any  other  scholar 
living  at  that  time,  with  the  exception  of  this  one,  who 
was  persistently  making  marginal  notes  on  the  books 
he  read. 

Spedding  writes :  "  What  became  of  his  (Bacon's) 
books,  which  were  left  to  Sir  John  Constable  and  must 
have  contained  traces  of  his  reading,  we  do  not  know  ; 
but  very  few  appear  to  have  survived." 

Mrs.  Pott,  in  "Francis  Bacon  and  his  Secret  Society," 
draws  attention  to  the  mystery  as  to  the  disappearance 
of  Bacon's  library.  "Which  is  a  mystery,"  she  adds, 
"  although  the  world  has  been  content  to  take  it  very 


BACON'S  LIBRARY.  157 

apathetically.  Where  is  Bacon's  library  ?  Undoubtedly 
the  books  exist  and  are  traceable.  We  should  expect 
them  to  be  recognisable  by  marginal  notes ;  yet  those 
notes,  whether  in  pencil  or  in  ink,  may  have  been 
effaced.  If  annotated,  Bacon  and  his  friends  would 
not  wish  his  books  to  attract  public  attention."  And 
further  on:  "It  is  probable  that  the  latter  (i.e.,  the 
books)  will  seldom  or  never  be  found  to  bear  his  name 
or  signature."  And  again  :  "  Yet  it  may  reasonably 
be  anticipated  that  some  at  least  are  'noted  in  the 
margin,'  or  that  some  will  be  found  with  traces  of 
marks  which  were  guides  to  the  transcriber  or  amanu- 
ensis as  to  the  portions  which  were  to  be  copied  for 
future  use  in  Bacon's  collections  or  book  of  common- 
places." Mrs.  Pott's  words  were  written  in  a  spirit  of 
true  prophecy. 

The  collecting  together  of  these  books  originated 
with  that  distinguished  Baconian  scholar,  Mr.  W. 
M.  Safford.  For  years  past  he  has  been  steadily 
engaged  in  reconstituting  Bacon's  Library.  The 
writer  has  had  the  privilege  of  being  associated  with 
him  in  this  work  during  the  past  three  years.  A 
collection  of  nearly  two  thousand  volumes  has  been 
gathered  together.  The  annotations  on  the  margins  of 
these  books  are  unquestionably  the  work  of  one  man, 
and  that  man,  or  rather  boy  and  man,  was  undoubtedly 
Francis  Bacon.  The  books  bear  date  from  1470  to 
1620.  It  is  impossible  to  enumerate  them  all  here,  but 
they  include  the  works  of  Seneca,  Aristotle,  Plato, 
Horace,  Alciat,  Lucanus,  Dionysius,  Catullus,  Lactinius, 
Plutarch,  Pliny,  Aristophanes,  Plautus,  Cornelius 
Agrippa,  Cicero,  Vitruvius,  Euclid,  Virgil,  Ovid,  Lucre- 
tius, Apuleius,  Salust,  Tibullus,  Isocrates,  and  hundreds 
of  other  classical  writers  ;  St.  Augustine,  St.  Jerome, 
Calvin,  Beza,  Beda,  Erasmus,  Martin  Luther,  J.  Cam- 
merarius,  Sir  Thomas  Moore,  Machiavelli,  and  other 
more  modern  writers. 


158       THE  MYSTERY  OF  FRANCIS  BACON. 

The  handwriting  varies,*  but  there  is  a  particular 
hand  which  is  found  accompanied  by  a  boy's  sketches. 
There  are  drawings  of  full-length  figures,  heads  of  men 
and  women,  animals,  birds,  reptiles,  ships,  castles, 
cathedrals,  cities,  battles,  storms,  etc.  The  writing  is  a 
strong,  clerkly  student's  hand.  There  is  a  passage  in 
"Hamlet,"  Act  V.,  scene  ii.,  which  is  noteworthy. 
Hamlet,  speaking  to  Horatio,  says  : — 

"  I  sat  me  down 

Devised  a  new  commission  ;  wrote  it  fair  ; 
I  once  did  hold  it,  as  our  statists  do, 
A  baseness  to  write  fair,  and  labour'd  much 
How  to  forget  that  learning  ;  but,  Sir,  now 
It  did  me  yeomans  service." 

The  nature  of  this  statement  is  so  personal  that  it 
could  only  have  been  written  as  the  result  of  experience. 
Hamlet  had  been  taught,  when  young,  to  write  a  hand 
so  fair  that  he  was  capable  of  producing  a  fresh  com- 
mission which  would  pass  muster  as  the  work  of  a 
Court  copyist.  The  annotation  of  these  books  possessed 
the  same  qualification.  In  the  margins  of  these  books 
are  abundant  references  in  handwriting  to  the  whole 
range  of  classical  authors. 

A  copy  of  the  "  Grammatice  Compendium  "  of  Lactus 
Pomponius,  a  very  rare  book  printed  by  De  Fortis  in 
Venice  in  1484,  contains  on  the  margins  the  boy's 
scribble  and  drawings,  besides  a  number  of  manuscript 
notes.  It  bears  traces  of  his  reading  probably  at  eight 
years  of  age.  A  large  folio  volume  entitled  "  T.  Livii 
Palvini  Latinse  Historian  Principis  Decades  Tres,"  pub- 
lished by  Frobenius  in  1535,  is  a  treasure.  It  is  most 
copiously  annotated  and  embellished  with  sketches. 
The  notes  are  usually  in  Latin,  but  interspersed  with 
Greek  and  sometimes  with  English.  Obviously  the 

*  Edwin  A.  Abbot,  in  his  work,  "  Francis  Bacon,"  p.  447, 
writes,  "  Bacon's  style  (as  a  writer)  varied  almost  as  much  as  his 
handwriting." 


BACON'S  LIBRARY.  159 

writer  thought  in  Latin,  and  the  character  of  the  draw- 
ings justifies  the  assumption  that,  at  the  time,  his  age 
would  be  from  ten  to  fourteen  years. 

The  most  remarkable  reference  to  these  annotations 
is  to  be  found  in  the  "  Rape  of  Lucrece."  The  fifteenth 
stanza  is  as  follows  :— 

"  But  she  that  never  cop't  with  straunger  eies, 
Could  picke  no  meaning  from  their  parling  lookes, 
Nor  read  the  subtle  shining  secrecies 
Writ  in  the  glassie  mar  gents  of  such  bookes, 
Shee  toucht  no  unknown  baits,  nor  feared  no  hooks, 
Nor  could  shee  moralize  his  wanton  sight 
More  than  his  eies  were  opend  to  the  light." 

It  would  be  difficult  to  conceive  a  more  inappropriate 
simile  for  the  lustful  looks  in  Tarquin's  eyes  than  "  the 
subtle  shining  secrecies,  writ  in  the  glassie  margents  of 
such  books."  That  this  is  lugged  in  for  a  purpose  outside 
the  object  of  the  poem  is  manifest.  How  many  readers 
of  "Lucrece"  would  know  of  such  a  practice?  Nay. 
If  it  did  exist,  was  not  its  use  very  rare  ? 

But  the  margin  of  the  verse  itself  yields  a  subtle 
shining  secret  !  The  initial  letters  of  the  lines  are 
B,  C,  N,  W,  Sh,  N  M.  It  is  only  necessary  to  supply 
the  vowels — BaCoN,  W.  Sh.,  NaMe.  Sh  is  on  line 
103,  which  is  the  numerical  value  of  the  word  Shake- 
speare. The  numerical  value  of  Bacon  is  33.  In  view 
of  this  the  line  33  is  significant: — "Why  is  Colatine 
the  publisher  ?  "  The  use  of  the  word  publisher  here  is 
quite  inappropriate.  It  is  introduced  for  some  reason 
outside  the  purpose  of  the  text. 

The  "  Rape  of  Lucrece  "  commences  with  Bacon's 
monogram  and,  as  the  late  Rev.  Walter  Begley  pointed 
out,  ends  with  his  signature. 

The  theory  now  advanced  is  that  when  Bacon  read  a 
book  he  made  marginal  notes  in  it — the  object  being 
mainly  to  assist  his  memory,  but  the  critical  notes  are 
numerous.  It  does  not  follow  that  all  these  books  con- 
stituted his  library.  He  would  read  a  book  and  it 


l6o  THE   MYSTERY   OF   FRANCIS    BACON. 

having  served  his  purpose  he  would  dispose  of  it.  Some 
books  no  doubt  he  would  retain  and  these  would  form 
his  library. 

The  annotations  are  chiefly  in  Latin,  but  some  are  in 
Greek,  some  in  Hebrew,  French  and  Spanish.  When 
these  have  been  examined  and  translated  the  meaning 
of  the  phrase  that  he  had  taken  all  knowledge  to  be  his 
province  will  be  better  understood.  Rawley  says :  "  He 
read  much  and  that  with  great  judgment  and  rejection 
of  impertinences  incident  to  many  authors." 

The  writer  having  examined  annotations,  many  and 
varied,  of  books  in  his  library,  and  having  enjoyed  the 
privilege  of  free  access  to  those  collected  by  Mr. 
Safford,  ventures  to  assert  that  much  of  the  ripe  learn- 
ing of  the  Shakespeare  plays  can  be  traced  therein  to 
its  proper  origin.  Amongst  the  former  is  a  copy  of 
Alciat's  Emblems,  1577,  in  the  early  part  profusely 
annotated.  Ben  Jonson  in  his  "  Discoveries  "  has 
incorporated  the  translation  of  a  portion  of  one  of  the 
Emblems  and  has  also  incorporated  a  portion  of  the 
annotations  from  this  very  book. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

TWO  GERMAN  OPINIONS  ON  SHAKESPEARE 
AND   BACON. 

DR.  G.  G.  GERVINUS,  the  eminent  German  Historian 
and  Professor  Extraordinary  at  Heidelberg,  published  in 
1849  his  work,  "Shakespeare  Commentaries."  This 
was  years  before  any  suggestion  had  been  made  that 
Bacon  was  in  any  way  connected  with  the  authorship 
of  the  Shakespearean  dramas. 

In  the  Prospectus  of  "The  New  Shakespeare 
Society,"  written  in  1873,  Dr.  F.  J.  Furnivall  says  :— 

"  The  profound  and  generous  '  Commentaries '  of  Gervinus — 
an  honour  to  a  German  to  have  written,  a  pleasure  to  an 
Englishman  to  read — is  still  the  only  book  known  to  me  that 
comes  near  the  true  treatment  and  the  dignity  of  its  subject,  or 
can  be  put  into  the  hands  of  the  student  who  wants  to  know  the 
mind  of  Shakespeare." 

The  book  abounds  with  references  to  Bacon.  From 
the  Preface  to  the  last  chapter  Gervinus  appears  to  have 
Bacon  continually  suggested  to  him  by  the  thoughts 
and  words  of  Shakespeare. 

In  the  Preface,  after  speaking  of  the  value  accruing 
to  German  literature  by  naturalizing  Shakespeare 
"even  at  the  risk  of  casting  our  own  poets  still  further 
in  the  shade,"  he  says  :— 

"A  similar  benefit  would  it  be  to  our  intellectual  life  if  his 
famed  contemporary,  Bacon,  were  revived  in  a  suitable  manner, 
in  order  to  counterbalance  the  idealistic  philosophy  of  Germany. 
For  both  these,  the  poet  as  well  as  the  philosopher,  having 
looked  deeply  into  the  history  and  politics  of  their  people,  stand 
upon  the  level  ground  of  reality,  notwithstanding  the  high  art 
of  the  one  and  the  speculative  notions  of  the  other.  By  the 


l62  THE    MYSTERY   OF   FRANCIS   BACON. 

healthfulness  of  their  own  mind  they  influence  the  healthfulness 
of  others,  while  in  their  most  ideal  and  most  abstract  representa- 
tions they  aim  at  a  preparation  for  life  as  it  is — for  that  life 
which  forms  the  exclusive  subject  of  all  political  action." 

In  the  chapter  on  "His  Age,"  written  prior  to  1849, 
the  Professor  pours  out  the  results  of  a  profound  study 
of  the  writings  attributed  to  both  men  in  the  following 
remarkable  sentences : — 

"  Judge  then  how  natural  it  was  that  England,  if  not  the  birth- 
place of  the  drama,  should  be  that  of  dramatic  legislature.  Yet 
even  this  instance  of  favourable  concentration  is  not  the  last. 
Both  in  philosophy  and  poetry  everything  conspired,  as  it  were, 
throughout  this  prosperous  period,  in  favour  of  two  great  minds, 
Shakespeare  and  Bacon  ;  all  competitors  vanished  from  their 
side,  and  they  could  give  forth  laws  for  art  and  science  which  it 
is  incumbent  even  upon  present  ages  to  fulfil.  As  the  revived 
philosophy,  which  in  the  former  century  in  Germany  was  divided 
among  many,  but  in  England  at  that  time  was  the  possession  of 
a  single  man,  so  poetry  also  found  one  exclusive  heir,  compared 
with  whom  those  later  born  could  claim  but  little. 

"That  Shakespeare's  appearance  upon  a  soil  so  admirably 
prepared  was  neither  marvellous  nor  accidental  is  evidenced 
even  by  the  corresponding  appearance  of  such  a  contemporary 
as  Bacon.  Scarcely  can  anything  be  said  of  Shakespeare's 
position  generally  with  regard  to  mediaeval  poetry  which  does 
not  also  bear  upon  the  position  of  the  renovator  Bacon  with 
regard  to  mediaeval  philosophy.  Neither  knew  nor  mentioned 
the  other,  although  Bacon  was  almost  called  upon  to  have  done 
so  in  his  remarks  upon  the  theatre  of  his  day.  It  may  be  pre- 
sumed that  Shakespeare  liked  Bacon  but  little,  if  he  knew  his 
writings  and  life  ;  that  he  liked  not  his  ostentation,  which,  with- 
out on  the  whole  interfering  with  his  modesty,  recurred  too 
often  in  many  instances  ;  that  he  liked  not  the  fault-finding 
which  his  ill-health  might  have  caused,  nor  the  narrow-minded- 
ness with  which  he  pronounced  the  histrionic  art  to  be  infamous, 
although  he  allowed  that  the  ancients  regarded  the  drama  as  a 
school  for  virtue;  nor  the  theoretic  precepts  of  worldly  wisdom 
which  he  gave  forth  ;  nor,  lastly,  the  practical  career  which  he 
lived.  Before  his  mind,  however,  if  he  had  fathomed  it,  he  must 
have  bent  in  reverence.  For  just  as  Shakespeare  was  an  inter- 


TWO  GERMAN   OPINIONS.  163 

preter  of  the  secrets  of  history  and  of  human  nature,  Bacon  was 
an  interpreter  of  lifeless  nature.  Just  as  Shakespeare  went 
from  instance  to  instance  in  his  judgment  of  moral  actions,  and 
never  founded  a  law  on  single  experience,  so  did  Bacon  in 
natural  science  avoid  leaping  from  one  experience  of  the  senses 
to  general  principles  ;  he  spoke  of  this  with  blame  as  anticipat- 
ing nature ;  and  Shakespeare,  in  the  same  way,  would  have 
called  the  conventionalities  in  the  poetry  of  the  Southern  races 
an  anticipation  of  human  nature.  In  the  scholastic  science  of 
the  middle  ages,  as  in  the  chivalric  poetry  of  the  romantic 
period,  approbation  and  not  truth  was  sought  for,  and  with  one 
accord  Shakespeare's  poetry  and  Bacon's  science  were  equally 
opposed  to  this.  As  Shakespeare  balanced  the  one-sided  errors 
of  the  imagination  by  reason,  reality,  and  nature,  so  Bacon  led 
philosophy  away  from  the  one-sided  errors  of  reason  to  experi- 
ence ;  both  with  one  stroke,  renovated  the  two  branches  of 
science  and  poetry  by  this  renewed  bond  with  nature  ;  both,  dis- 
regarding all  by-ways,  staked  everything  upon  this  '  victory  in 
the  race  between  art  and  nature.'  Just  as  Bacon  with  his  new 
philosophy  is  linked  with  the  natural  science  of  Greece  and 
Rome,  and  then  with  the  latter  period  of  philosophy  in  western 
Europe,  so  Shakespeare's  drama  stands  in  relation  to  the 
comedies  of  Plautus  and  to  the  stage  of  his  own  day  ;  between 
the  two  there  lay  a  vast  wilderness  of  time,  as  unfruitful  for  the 
drama  as  for  philosophy.  But  while  they  thus  led  back  to 
nature,  Bacon  was  yet  as  little  of  an  empiric,  in  the  common 
sense,  as  Shakespeare  was  a  poet  of  nature.  Bacon  prophesied 
that  if  hereafter  his  commendation  of  experience  should  prevail, 
great  danger  to  science  would  arise  from  the  other  extreme,  and 
Shakespeare  even  in  his  own  day  could  perceive  the  same  with 
respect  to  his  poetry  ;  Bacon,  therefore,  insisted  on  the  closest 
union  between  experience  and  reason,  just  as  Shakespeare  effected 
that  between  reality  and  imagination.  While  they  thus  bid  adieu 
to  the  formalities  of  ancient  art  and  science,  Shakespeare 
to  conceits  and  taffeta-phrases,  Bacon  to  logic  and  syllogisms, 
yet  at  times  it  occurred  that  the  one  fell  back  into  the 
subtleties  of  the  old  school,  and  the  other  into  the  constrained 
wit  of  the  Italian  style.  Bacon  felt  himself  quite  an  original 
in  that  which  was  his  peculiar  merit,  and  so  was  Shake- 
speare ;  the  one  in  the  method  of  science  he  had  laid  down, 
and  in  his  suggestions  for  its  execution,  the  other  in  the 
poetical  works  he  had  executed,  and  in  the  suggestions  of  their 


164       THE  MYSTERY  OF  FRANCIS  BACON. 

new  law.  Bacon,  looking  back  to  the  waymarks  he  had  left  for 
others,  said  with  pride  that  his  words  required  a  century  for 
their  demonstration  and  several  for  their  execution  ;  and  so  too 
it  has  demanded  two  centuries  to  understand  Shakespeare,  but 
very  little  has  ever  been  executed  in  his  sense.  And  at  the 
same  time  we  have  mentioned  what  deep  modesty  was  inter- 
woven in  both  with  their  self-reliance,  so  that  the  words 
which  Bacon  liked  to  quote  hold  good  for  the  two  works  : — 
'  The  kingdom  of  God  cometh  not  with  observation.'  Both 
reached  this  height  from  the  one  starting  point,  that  Shake- 
speare despised  the  million,  and  Bacon  feared  with  Phocion 
the  applause  of  the  multitude.  Both  are  alike  in  the  rare 
impartiality  with  which  they  avoided  everything  one-sided  ; 
in  Bacon  we  find,  indeed,  youthful  exercises  in  which  he 
endeavoured  in  severe  contrasts  to  contemplate  a  series  of 
things  from  two  points  of  view.  Both,  therefore,  have  an  equal 
hatred  of  sects  and  parties ;  Bacon  of  sophists  and  dogmatic 
philosophers,  Shakespeare  of  Puritans  and  zealots.  Both,  there- 
fore, are  equally  free  from  prejudices,  and  from  astrological 
superstition  in  dreams  and  omens.  Bacon  says  of  the  alchemists 
and  magicians  in  natural  science  that  they  stand  in  similar 
relation  to  true  knowledge  as  the  deeds  of  Amadis  to  those  of 
Caesar,  and  so  does  Shakespeare's  true  poetry  stand  in  relation  to 
the  fantastic  romance  of  Amadis.  Just  as  Bacon  banished 
religion  from  science,  so  did  Shakespeare  from  Art ;  and  when 
the  former  complained  that  the  teachers  of  religion  were  against 
natural  philosophy,  they  were  equally  against  the  stage.  From 
Bacon's  example  it  seems  clear  that  Shakespeare  left  religious 
matters  unnoticed  on  the  same  grounds  as  himself,  and  took  the 
path  of  morality  in  worldly  things  ;  in  both  this  has  been  equally 
misconstrued,  and  Le  Maistre  has  proved  Bacon's  lack  of  Christi- 
anity, as  Birch  has  done  that  of  Shakespeare.  Shakespeare 
would,  perhaps,  have  looked  down  just  as  contemptuously  on  the 
ancients  and  their  arts  as  Bacon  did  on  their  philosophy  and 
natural  science,  and  both  on  the  same  grounds  ;  they  boasted  of 
the  greater  age  of  the  world,  of  more  enlarged  knowledge  of 
heaven,  earth,  and  mankind.  Neither  stooped  before  authorities, 
and  an  injustice  similar  to  that  which  Bacon  committed  against 
Aristotle,  Shakespeare  perhaps  has  done  to  Homer.  In  both  a 
similar  combination  of  different  mental  powers  was  at  work  ;  and 
as  Shakespeare  was  often  involuntarily  philosophical  in  his  pro- 
foundness, Bacon  was  not  seldom  surprised  into  the  imagination 


TWO   GERMAN   OPINIONS.  165 

of  the  poet.  Just  as  Bacon,  although  he  declared  knowledge  in 
itself  to  be  much  more  valuable  than  the  use  of  invention,  insisted 
throughout  generally  and  dispassionately  upon  the  practical  use 
of  philosophy,  so  Shakespeare's  poetry,  independent  as  was  his 
sense  of  art,  aimed  throughout  at  bearing  upon  the  moral  life. 
Bacon  himself  was  of  the  same  opinion  ;  he  was  not  far  from  de- 
claring history  to  be  the  best  teacher  of  politics,  and  poetry  the 
best  instructor  in  morals.  Both  were  alike  deeply  moved  by  the 
picture  of  a  ruling  Nemesis,  whom  they  saw,  grand  and  power- 
ful, striding  through  history  and  life,  dragging  the  mightiest  and 
most  prosperous  as  a  sacrifice  to  her  altar,  as  the  victims  of  their 
own  inward  nature  and  destiny.  In  Bacon's  works  we  find  a 
multitude  of  moral  sayings  and  maxims  of  experience,  from  which 
the  most  striking  mottoes  might  be  drawn  for  every  Shakespearian 
play,  aye,  for  every  one  of  his  principal  characters  (we  have 
already  brought  forward  not  a  few  proofs  of  this),  testifying  to  a 
remarkable  harmony  in  their  mutual  comprehension  of  human 
nature.  Both,  in  their  systems  of  morality  rendering  homage  to 
Aristotle,  whose  ethics  Shakespeare,  from  a  passage  in  Troilus, 
may  have  read,  arrived  at  the  same  end  as  he  did — that  virtue 
lies  in  a  just  medium  between  two  extremes.  Shakespeare  would 
also  have  agreed  with  him  in  this,  that  Bacon  declared  excess  to 
be  'the  fault  of  youth,  as  defect  is  of  age  ;'  he  accounted  '  defect 
the  worst,  because  excess  contains  some  sparks  of  magnanimity, 
and,  like  a  bird,  claims  kindred  of  the  heavens,  while  defect,  only 
like  a  base  worm,  crawls  upon  the  earth.'  In  these  maxims  lie 
at  once,  as  it  were,  the  whole  theory  of  Shakespeare's  dramatic 
forms  and  of  his  moral  philosophy." 

DR.  KUNO  FISCHER,  the  distinguished  German  critic 
and  historian  of  philosophy,  in  a  volume  on  Bacon, 
published  in  1856,  writes  :— 

The  same  affinity  for  the  Roman  mind,  and  the  same 
want  of  sympathy  with  the  Greek,  we  again  find  in 
Bacon's  greatest  contemporary,  whose  imagination 
took  as  broad  and  comprehensive  a  view  as  Bacon's 
intellect.  Indeed,  how  could  a  Bacon  attain  that 
position  with  respect  to  Greek  poetry  that  was  un- 
attainable by  the  mighty  imagination  of  a  Shakspeare  ? 
For  in  Shakspeare,  at  any  rate,  the  imagination  of  the 
Greek  antiquity  could  be  met  by  a  homogeneous  power 

M 


l66       THE  MYSTERY  OF  FRANCIS  BACON. 

of  the  same  rank  as  itself;  and,  as  the  old  adage  says, 
"  like  comes  to  like."  But  the  age,  the  spirit  of  the 
nation — in  a  word,  all  those  forces  of  which  the  genius 
of  an  individual  man  is  composed,  and  which,  moreover, 
genius  is  least  able  to  resist — had  here  placed  an 
obstacle,  impenetrable  both  to  the  poet  and  the 
philosopher.  Shakspeare  was  no  more  able  to  exhibit 
Greek  characters  than  Bacon  to  expound  Greek  poetry. 
Like  Bacon,  Shakspeare  had  in  his  turn  of  mind  some- 
thing that  was  Roman,  and  not  at  all  akin  to  the  Greek. 
He  could  appropriate  to  himself  a  Coriolanus  and  a 
Brutus,  a  Caesar  and  an  Antony ;  he  could  succeed 
with  the  Roman  heroes  of  Plutarch,  but  not  with  the 
Greek  heroes  of  Homer.  The  latter  he  could  only 
parody,  but  his  parody  was  as  infelicitous  as  Bacon's 
explanation  of  the  "  Wisdom  of  the  Ancients."  Those 
must  be  dazzled  critics  indeed  who  can  persuade  them- 
selves that  the  heroes  of  the  Iliad  are  excelled  by  the 
caricatures  in  "Troilusand  Cressida."  The  success  of 
such  a  parody  was  poetically  impossible  ;  indeed,  he  that 
attempts  to  parody  Homer  shows  thereby  that  he  has 
not  understood  him.  For  the  simple  and  the  naive  do  not 
admit  of  a  parody,  and  these  have  found  in  Homer  their 
eternal  and  inimitable  expression.  Just  as  well  might 
caricatures  be  made  of  the  statues  of  Phidias.  Where 
the  creative  imagination  never  ceases  to  be  simple  and 
naive,  where  it  never  distorts  itself  by  the  affected  or 
the  unnatural,  there  is  the  consecrated  land  of  poetry, 
in  which  there  is  no  place  for  the  parodist.  On  the 
other  hand,  where  there  is  a  palpable  want  of  simplicity 
and  nature,  parody  is  perfectly  conceivable ;  nay,  may 
even  be  felt  as  a  poetical  necessity.  Thus  Euripides, 
\vho,  often  enough,  was  neither  simple  nor  naive,  could 
be  parodied,  and  Aristophanes  has  shown  us  with  what 
felicity.  Even  ^Eschylus,  who  was  not  always  as  simple 
as  he  was  grand,  does  not  completely  escape  the 
parodising  test.  But  Homer  is  safe.  To  parody  Homer 


TWO  GERMAN   OPINIONS.  167 

is  to  mistake  him,  and  to  stand  so  far  beyond  his  scope 
that  the  truth  and  magic  of  his  poetry  can  no  longer  be 
felt ;  and  this  is  the  position  of  Shakespeare  and  Bacon. 
The  imagination  of  Homer,  and  all  that  could  be 
contemplated  and  felt  by  that  imagination,  namely,  the 
classical  antiquity  of  the  Greeks,  are  to  them  utterly 
foreign.  We  cannot  understand  Aristotle  without 
Plato ;  nay,  I  maintain  that  we  cannot  contemplate 
with  a  sympathetic  mind  the  Platonic  world  of  ideas, 
if  we  have  not  previously  sympathised  with  the  world  of 
the  Homeric  gods.  Be  it  understood,  I  speak  of  the 
form  of  the  Platonic  mind,  not  of  its  logical  matter  ;  in 
point  of  doctrine,  the  Homeric  faith  was  no  more  that 
of  Plato  than  of  Phidias.  But  these  doctrinal  or  logical 
differences  are  far  less  than  the  formal  and  aesthetical 
affinity.  The  conceptions  of  Plato  are  of  Homeric 
origin. 

This  want  of  ability  to  take  an  historical  survey  of 
the  world  is  to  be  found  alike  in  Bacon  and  Shakspeare, 
together  with  many  excellencies  likewise  common  to 
them  both.  To  the  parallel  between  them — which 
Gervinus,  with  his  peculiar  talent  for  combination,  has 
drawn  in  the  concluding  remarks  to  his  "Shakespeare," 
and  has  illustrated  by  a  series  of  appropriate  instances 
— belongs  the  similar  relation  of  both  to  antiquity,  their 
affinity  to  the  Roman  mind,  and  their  diversity  from 
the  Greek.  Both  possessed  to  an  eminent  degree  that 
faculty  for  a  knowledge  of  human  nature  that  at  once 
pre-supposes  and  calls  forth  an  interest  in  practical  liie 
and  historical  reality.  To  this  interest  corresponds  the 
stage,  on  which  the  Roman  characters  moved  ;  and  here 
Bacon  and  Shakspeare  met,  brought  together  by  a 
common  interest  in  these  objects,  and  the  attempt  to 
depict  and  copy  them.  This  point  of  agreement,  more 
than  any  other  argument,  explains  their  affinity.  At  the 
same  time  there  is  no  evidence  that  one  ever  came  into 
actual  contact  with  the  other.  Bacon  does  not  even 


l68       THE  MYSTERY  OF  FRANCIS  BACON. 

mention  Shakspeare  when  he  discourses  of  dramatic 
poetry,  but  passes  over  this  department  of  poetry  with  a 
general  and  superficial  remark  that  relates  less  to  the 
subject  itself  than  to  the  stage  and  its  uses.  As  far  as 
his  own  age  is  concerned,  he  sets  down  the  moral  value 
of  the  stage  as  exceedingly  trifling.  But  the  affinity  of 
Bacon  to  Shakspeare  is  to  be  sought  in  his  moral  and 
psychological,  not  in  his  aesthetical  views,  which  are  too 
much  regulated  by  material  interests  and  utilitarian  pre- 
possessions to  be  applicable  to  art  itself,  considered  with 
reference  to  its  own  independent  value.  However,  even 
in  these  there  is  nothing  to  prevent  Bacon's  manner  of 
judging  mankind,  and  apprehending  characters  from 
agreeing  perfectly  with  that  of  Shakspeare;  so  that  human 
life,  the  subject-matter  of  all  dramatic  art,  appeared  to 
him  much  as  it  appeared  to  the  great  artist  himself,  who, 
in  giving  form  to  this  matter,  excelled  all  others.  Is  not 
the  inexhaustible  theme  of  Shakspeare's  poetry  the 
history  and  course  of  human  passion  ?  In  the  treatment 
of  this  especial  theme  is  not  Shakspeare  the  greatest  of 
all  poets — nay,  is  he  not  unique  among  them  all  ?  And 
it  is  this  very  theme  that  is  proposed  by  Bacon  as  the 
chief  problem  of  moral  philosophy.  He  blames  Aristotle 
for  treating  of  the  passions  in  his  rhetoric  rather  than 
his  ethics  ;  for  regarding  the  artificial  means  of  exciting 
them  rather  than  their  natural  history.  It  is  to  the 
natural  history  of  the  human  passions  that  Bacon 
directs  the  attention  of  philosophy.  He  does  not  find 
any  knowledge  of  them  among  the  sciences  of  his  time. 
"The  poets  and  writers  of  histories,"  he  says,  "are  the 
best  doctors  of  this  knowledge ;  where  we  may  find 
painted  forth  with  great  life  how  passions  are  kindled 
and  incited;  and  how  pacified  and  refrained;  and  how 
again  contained  from  act  and  further  degree  ;  how  they 
disclose  themselves ;  how  they  work ;  how  they  vary ; 
how  they  gather  and  fortify  ;  how  they  are  inwrapped 
one  within  another ;  and  how  they  do  fight  and  en- 


TWO   GERMAN   OPINIONS.  169 

counter  one  with  another ;  and  other  the  like  par- 
ticularities."* Such  a  lively  description  is  required  by 
Bacon  from  moral  philosophy.  That  is  to  say,  he  desired 
nothing  less  than  a  natural  history  of  the  passions — the 
very  thing  that  Shakspeare  has  produced.  Indeed, 
what  poet  could  have  excelled  Shakspeare  in  this 
respect  ?  Who,  to  use  a  Baconian  expression,  could 
have  depicted  man  and  all  his  passions  more  ad 
vivum  ?  According  to  Bacon,  the  poets  and  historians 
give  us  copies  of  characters ;  and  the  outlines  of  these 
images — the  simple  strokes  that  determine  characters — 
are  the  proper  objects  of  ethical  science.  Just  as 
physical  science  requires  a  dissection  of  bodies,  that 
their  hidden  qualities  and  parts  may  be  discovered, 
so  should  ethics  penetrate  the  various  minds  of  men,  in 
order  to  find  out  the  eternal  basis  of  them  all.  And  not 
only  this  foundation,  but  likewise  those  external  con- 
dition's which  give  a  stamp  to  human  character — all 
those  peculiarities  that  "are  imposed  upon  the  mind 
by  the  sex,  by  the  age,  by  the  region,  by  health  and 
sickness,  by  beauty  and  deformity,  and  the  like,  which 
are  inherent  and  not  external ;  and,  again,  those  which 
are  caused  by  external  fortune  "t — should  come  within 
the  scope  of  ethical  philosophy.  In  a  word,  Bacon 
would  have  man  studied  in  his  individuality  as  a 
product  of  nature  and  history,  in  every  respect  de- 
termined by  natural  and  historical  influences,  by 
internal  and  external  conditions.  And  exactly  in  the 
same  spirit  has  Shakespeare  understood  man  and  his 
destiny  ;  regarding  character  as  the  result  of  a  certain 
natural  temperament  and  a  certain  historical  position, 
and  destiny  as  a  result  of  character. 


0  "Advancement  of  Learning,"  II.  "  De  Augment.  Scient.," 
VII.  3- 

f  "  Advancement  of  Learning,1'  II.  For  the  whole  passage  com- 
pare "  De  Augment.  Scient./'  VII.  3. 


170 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

THE    TESTIMONY    OF    BACON'S 
CONTEMPORARIES. 

A  DISTINGUISHED  member  of  the  Bench  in  a  recent 
post-prandial  address  referred  to  Bacon  as  "a  shady 
lawyer."  Irresponsible  newspaper  correspondents,  when 
attacking  the  Baconian  theory,  indulge  in  epithets  of 
this  kind,  but  it  is  amazing  that  any  man  occupying  a 
position  so  responsible  as  that  of  an  English  judge 
should,  either  through  ignorance  or  with  a  desire  to  be 
considered  a  wit,  make  use  of  such  a  term. 

Whatever  may  have  been  Francis  Bacon's  faults,  one 
fact  must  stand  unchallenged — that  amongst  those  of 
his  contemporaries  who  knew  him  there  was  a  consensus 
of  opinion  that  his  virtues  overshadowed  any  failings 
to  which  he  might  be  subject. 

The  following  testimonies  establish  this  fact : — 

Let  BEN  JONSON  speak  first : 

"  Yet  there  happened  in  my  time  one  noble  speaker, 
who  was  full  of  gravity  in  his  speaking.  His  language 
(where  he  could  spare  or  pass  a  jest)  was  nobly 
censorious.  No  man  ever  spake  more  neatly,  more 
pressly,  more  weightily,  or  suffered  less  emptiness,  less 
idleness,  in  what  he  uttered.  No  member  of  his  speech, 
but  consisted  of  his  own  graces.  His  hearers  could  not 
cough,  or  look  aside  from  him,  without  loss.  He  com- 
manded where  he  spoke  ;  and  had  his  judges  angry  and 
pleased  at  his  devotion.  No  man  had  their  affections 
more  in  his  power.  The  fear  of  every  man  that  heard 
him  was,  lest  he  should  make  an  end,"  and,  after  refer- 
ring to  Lord  Ellesmere,  Jonson  continues  : — 


BACON'S   CONTEMPORARIES.  171 

"  But  his  learned  and  able  (though  unfortunate) 
successor,  (i.e.,  Bacon)  is  he  who  hath  filled  up 
all  numbers,  and  performed  that  in  our  tongue, 
which  may  be  compared  or  preferred  either  to  insolent 
Greece,  or  haughty  Rome.  In  short,  within  his  view, 
and  about  his  times,  were  all  the  wits  born,  that  could 
honour  a  language,  or  help  study.  Now  things  daily 
fall,  wits  grow  downward,  and  eloquence  grows  back- 
ward :  so  that  he  may  be  named,  and  stand  as  the  mark 
and  tt/twj;  of  our  language. 

"  My  conceit  of  his  person  was  never  increased 
toward  him  by  his  place,  or  honours  :  but  I  have  and 
do  reverence  him,  for  the  greatness  that  was  only 
proper  to  himself,  in  that  he  seemed  to  me  ever,  by  his 
work,  one  of  the  greatest  men,  and  most  worthy  of 
admiration,  that  had  been  in  many  ages.  In  his 
adversity  I  ever  prayed  God  would  give  him  strength ; 
for  greatness  he  could  not  want.  Neither  could  I 
condole  in  a  word  or  syllable  for  him,  as  knowing  no 
accident  could  do  harm  to  virtue,  but  rather  help  to 
make  it  manifest." 

SIR  TOBY  MATTHEW  describes  Francis  Bacon  as 

"A  friend  unalterable  to  his  friends  ; 
A  man  most  sweet  in  his  conversation  and  ways  " ; 

and  adds  : 

"  It  is  not  his  greatness  that  I  admire,  but  his  virtue." 

THOMAS  BUSHEL,  his  servant,  in  a  letter  to  Mr.  John 
Eliot,  printed  in  1628,  in  a  volume  called  "  The  First 
Part  of  Youth's  Errors,"  says  : 

"Yet  lest  the  calumnious  tongues  of  men  might 
extenuate  the  good  opinion  you  had  of  his  worth  and 
merit,  I  must  ingenuously  confess  that  my  selfe  and 
others  of  his  servants  were  the  occasion  of  exhaling  his 
vertues  into  a  darke  exlipse  ;  which  God  knowes  would 


172       THE  MYSTERY  OF  FRANCIS  BACON. 

have  long  endured  both  for  the  honour  of  his  King  and 
the  good  of  the  Commonaltie  ;  had  not  we  whom  his 
bountie  nursed,  laid  on  his  guiltlesse  shoulders  our  base 
and  execrable  deeds  to  be  scand  and  censured  by  the 
whole  senate  of  a  state,  where  no  sooner  sentence  was 
given,  but  most  of  us  forsoke  him,  which  makes  us  bear 
the  badge  of  Jewes  to  this  day.  Yet  I  am  confident 
there  were  some  Godly  Daniels  amongst  us.  ... 
As  for  myselfe,  with  shame  I  must  acquit  the  title,  and 
pleade  guilty ;  which  grieves  my  very  soule,  that  so 
matchlesse  a  Peer  should  be  lost  by  such  insinuating 
caterpillars,  who  in  his  owne  nature  scorn'd  the  least 
thought  of  any  base,  unworthy,  or  ignoble  act,  though 
subject  to  infirmites  as  ordained  to  the  wisest." 

In  FULLER'S  "  Worthies  "  it  is  written  : 

"  He  was  a  rich  Cabinet  filled  with  Judgment,  Wit, 
Fancy  and  Memory,  and  had  the  golden  Key,  Elocution, 
to  open  it.  He  was  singular  in  singulis,  in  every 
Science  and  Art,  and  being  In-at-all  came  off  with 
Credit.  He  was  too  Bountifull  to  his  Servants,  and 
either  too  confident  of  their  Honesty,  or  too  conniving 
at  their  Falsehood.  'Tis  said  he  had  2  Servants,  one 
in  all  Causes  Patron  to  the  Plaintiff,  the  other  to  the 
Defendant,  but  taking  bribes  of  both,  with  this  Con- 
dition, to  restore  the  Mony  received,  if  the  Cause  went 
against  them.  Such  practices,  tho'  unknown  to  their 
Master,  cost  him  the  loss  of  his  Office." 

In  "The  Lives  of  Statesmen  and  Favourites  of 
Elizabeth's  Reign  "  it  is  said  :— 

"  His  religion  was  rational  and  sober,  his  spirit 
publick,  his  love  to  relations  tender,  to  Friends  faithful, 
to  the  hopeful  liberal,  to  men  universal,  to  his  very 
Enemies  civil.  He  left  the  best  pattern  of  Government 
in  his  actions  under  one  king  and  the  best  principles  of 
it  in  the  Life  of  the  other." 


BACON'S   CONTEMPORARIES.  173 

The  following  is  a  translation  from  the  discourse  on 
the  life  of  Mr.  Francis  Bacon  which  is  prefixed  to  the 
"Histoire  Naturelle,"  by  PIERE  AMBOISE,  published  in 
Paris  in  1631  : 

"Among  so  many  virtues  that  made  this  great  man 
commendable,  prudence,  as  the  first  of  all  the  moral 
virtues,  and  that  most  necessary  to  those  of  his  pro- 
fession, was  that  which  shone  in  him  the  most  brightly. 
His  profound  wisdom  can  be  most  readily  seen  in  his 
books,  and  his  matchless  fidelity  in  the  signal  services 
that  he  continuously  rendered  to  his  Prince.  Never  was 
there  man  who  so  loved  equity,  or  so  enthusiastically 
worked  for  the  public  good  as  he  ;  so  that  I  may  aver 
that  he  would  have  been  much  better  suited  to  a 
Republic  than  to  a  Monarchy,  where  frequently  the 
convenience  of  the  Prince  is  more  thought  of  than  that 
of  his  people.  And  I  do  not  doubt  that  had  he  lived  in 
a  Republic  he  would  have  acquired  as  much  glory  from 
the  citizens  as  formerly  did  Aristides  and  Cato,  the  one 
in  Athens,  the  other  in  Rome.  Innocence  oppressed 
found  always  in  his  protection  a  sure  refuge,  and  the 
position  of  the  great  gave  them  no  vantage  ground 
before  the  Chancellor  when  suing  for  justice. 

"Vanity,  avarice,  and  ambition,  vices  that  too  often 
attach  themselves  to  great  honours,  were  to  him  quite 
unknown,  and  if  he  did  a  good  action  it  was  not  from 
the  desire  of  fame,  but  simply  because  he  could  not  do 
otherwise.  His  good  qualities  were  entirely  pure,  with- 
out being  clouded  by  the  admixture  of  any  imperfec- 
tions, and  the  passions  that  form  usually  the  defects  in 
great  men  in  him  only  served  to  bring  out  his  virtues  ; 
if  he  felt  hatred  and  rage  it  was  only  against  evil-doers, 
to  shew  his  detestation  of  their  crimes,  and  success  or 
failure  in  the  affairs  of  his  country  brought  to  him  the 
greater  part  of  his  joys  or  his  sorrows.  He  was  as  truly 
a  good  man  as  he  was  an  upright  judge,  and  by  the 
example  of  his  life  corrected  vice  and  bad  living  as 


174  THE    MYSTERY   OF   FRANCIS   BACON. 

much  as  by  pains  and  penalties.  And,  in  a  word,  it 
seemed  that  Nature  had  exempted  from  the  ordinary 
frailities  of  men  him  whom  she  had  marked  out  to  deal 
with  their  crimes.  All  these  good  qualities  made  him 
the  darling  of  the  people  and  prized  by  the  great  ones 
of  the  State.  But  when  it  seemed  that  nothing  could 
destroy  his  position,  Fortune  made  clear  that  she  did 
not  yet  wish  to  abandon  her  character  for  instability, 
and  that  Bacon  had  too  much  worth  to  remain  so  long 
prosperous.  It  thus  came  about  that  amongst  the  great 
number  of  officials  such  as  a  man  of  his  position  must 
have  in  his  house,  there  was  one  who  was  accused 
before  Parliament  of  exaction,  and  of  having  sold  the 
influence  that  he  might  have  with  his  master.  And 
though  the  probity  of  Mr.  Bacon  was  entirely  exempt 
from  censure,  nevertheless  he  was  declared  guilty  of  the 
crime  of  his  servant  and  was  deprived  of  the  power  that 
he  had  so  long  exercised  with  so  much  honour  and 
glory.  In  this  I  see  the  working  of  monstrous  ingratitude 
and  unparalleled  cruelty — to  say  that  a  man  who  could 
mark  the  years  of  his  life  rather  by  the  signal  services 
that  he  had  rendered  to  the  State  than  by  times  or 
seasons,  should  have  received  such  hard  usage  for  the 
punishment  of  a  crime  which  he  never  committed ; 
England,  indeed,  teaches  us  by  this  that  the  sea  that 
surrounds  her  shores  imparts  to  her  inhabitants  some- 
what of  its  restless  inconstancy.  This  storm  did  not  at 
all  surprise  him,  and  he  received  the  news  of  his  disgrace 
with  a  countenance  so  undisturbed  that  it  was  easy  to 
see  that  he  thought  but  little  of  the  sweets  of  life  since 
the  loss  of  them  caused  him  discomfort  so  slight." 
Thus  ended  this  great  man  whom  England  could 
place  alone  as  the  equal  of  the  best  of  all  the  previous 
centuries." 

PETER  BOENER,  who  was  private  apothecary  to  Bacon 
for  a  time,  wrote  in  1647  a  Life,  of  portions  of  which 
the  following  are  translations  : — 


BACON'S  CONTEMPORARIES.  175 

"Bat  how  runneth  man's  future.  He  who  seemed 
to  occupy  the  highest  rank  is  alas  !  by  envious 
tongues  near  King  and  Parliament  deposed  from 
all  his  offices  and  chancellorship,  little  consider- 
ing what  treasure  was  being  cast  in  the  mire,  as 
afterwards  the  issue  and  result  thereof  have  shown 
in  that  country.  But  he  always  comforted  him- 
self with  the  words  of  Scripture — nihil  est  novi ;  that 
means  '  there  is  nothing  new.'  Because  so  is  Cicero 
by  Octavianus ;  Calisthenes  by  Alexander  ;  Seneca  (all 
his  former  teachers)  by  Nero  ;  yea,  Ovid,  Lucanus, 
Statius  (together  with  many  others),  for  a  small  cause 
very  unthankfully  the  one  banished,  the  other  killed,  the 
third  thrown  to  the  lions.  But  even  as  for  such  men 
banishment  is  freedom — death  their  life,  so  is  for  this 
author  his  deposition  a  memory  to  greater  honour  and 
fame,  and  to  such  a  sage  no  harm  can  come. 

"  Whilst  his  fortunes  were  so  changed,  I  never  saw 
him — either  in  mien,  word  or  acts — changed  or  disturbed 
towards  whomsoever ;  ira  enim  hominis  non  implet 
justiiiam  Dei,  he  was  ever  one  and  the  same,  both  in 
sorrow  and  in  joy,  as  becometh  a  philosopher  ;  always 
with  a  benevolent  allocution — mantis  nostrcz  sunt  oculata:, 
credunt  quod  vident.  ...  A  noteworthy  example  and 
pattern  for  everyone  of  all  virtue,  gentleness,  peaceful- 
ness,  and  patience." 

FRANCIS  OSBORN,  in  his  "Advice  to  a  Son,"  writes  :— 

"And  my  memory  neither  doth  nor  (I  believe  possible 
ever)  can  direct  me  towards  an  example  more  splendid 
in  this  kind,  than  the  Lord  Bacon  Earl  of  St.  Albans, 
who  in  all  companies  did  appear  a  good  Proficient,  if 
not  a  Master  in  those  Arts  entertained  for  the  Subject  of 
every  ones  discourse.  So  as  I  dare  maintain,  without 
the  least  affectation  of  Flattery  or  Hyperbole,  That  his 
most  casual  talk  deserveth  to  be  written,  As  I  have  been 


176  THE   MYSTERY   OF   FRANCIS   BACON. 

told  his  first  or  foulest  Copys  required  no  great  Labour 
to  render  them  competent  for  the  nicest  judgments.  A 
high  perfection,  attainable  only  by  use,  and  treating 
with  every  man  in  his  respective  profession,  and  what 
he  was  most  vers'd  in.  So  as  I  have  heard  him  enter- 
tain a  Country  Lord  in  the  proper  terms  relating  to 
Hawks  and  Dogs.  And  at  another  time  out-Cant  a 
London  Chirurgeon.  Thus  he  did  not  only  learn  him- 
self, but  gratifie  such  as  taught  him  ;  who  looked  upon 
their  Callings  as  honoured  through  his  Notice  ;  Nor  did 
an  easie  falling  into  Arguments  (not  unjustly  taken  for  a 
blemish  in  the  most)  appear  less  than  an  ornament  in 
Him  :  The  ears  of  the  hearers  receiving  more  gratifica- 
tion, than  trouble  ;  And  (so)  no  less  sorry  when  he  came 
to  conclude,  than  displeased  with  any  did  interrupt 
him.  Now  this  general  Knowledge  he  had  in  all  things, 
husbanded  by  his  wit,  and  dignifi'd  by  so  Majestical  a 
carriage  he  was  known  to  own,  strook  such  an  awful 
reverence  in  those  he  question'd,  that  they  durst  not 
conceal  the  most  intrmsick  part  of  their  Mysteries  from 
him,  for  fear  of  appearing  Ignorant,  or  Saucy.  All  which 
rendered  him  no  less  Necessary,  than  admirable  at  the 
Council  Table,  where  in  reference  to  Impositions,  Mono- 
polies, &c.  the  meanest  Manufacturers  were  an  usual 
Argument :  And,  as  I  have  heard,  did  in  this  Baffle,  the 
Earl  of  Middlesex,  that  was  born  and  bred  a  Citizen  &c. 
Yet  without  any  great  (if  at  all)  interrupting  his  other 
Studies,  as  is  not  hard  to  be  Imagined  of  a  quick 
Apprehension,  in  which  he  was  Admirable." 


177 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

THE    MISSING     FOURTH     PART    OF     "THE 
GREAT    INSTAURATION." 

IT  has  been  urged  by  critics  that  Bacon,  whilst  pro- 
fessing to  take  all  knowledge  for  his  province,  ignored 
one-half  of  it — that  half  which  was  a  knowledge 
of  himself;  that  to  him  the  external  world  was  every- 
thing, the  internal  nothing.  All  that  Nature  revealed 
was  external ;  nothing  that  was  internal  was  of  much 
importance. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  all  that  we  have  of 
Bacon's  was  written  as  he  was  passing  into  the  "vale 
of  life."  Of  his  early  productions  nothing  has  come 
down  to  the  present  times  under  his  own  name.  The 
following  extracts  from  his  acknowledged  works  estab- 
lish two  facts  : — (i)  That  the  foregoing  criticism  is 
unfounded,  for  he  placed  the  study  of  man's  mind  and 
character  above  all  other  enquiries.  (2)  That  he  had 
prepared  examples,  being  "  actual  types  and  models,  by 
which  the  entire  process  of  the  mind  and  the  whole 
fabric  and  order  of  invention  from  the  beginning  to 
the  end  in  certain  subjects  and  those  various  and 
remarkable  should  be  set,  as  it  were,  before  the  eyes." 
Where  are  these  works  to  be  found  ? 

Bacon  never  tires  of  quoting  from  the  Roman  poet 
the  line — 

"  Omne  tulit  punctum  qui  miscuit  utile  dulci,'1 

which,  in  an  Elizabethan  handwriting,  may  be  seen  in 
a  contemporary  volume  thus  rendered — 

"  He  of  all  others  fittest  is  to  write 
Which  with  some  profit  allso  ioynes  delight." 


178  THE   MYSTERY   OF  FRANCIS   BACON. 

He  repeats  in  different  forms,  until  the  reiteration  be- 
comes almost  tedious,  the  following  incident  : — 

"And  as  Alexander  Borgia  was  wont  to  say,  of  the 
expedition  of  the  French  for  Naples,  that  they  came 
with  chalk  in  their  hands  to  marke  up  their  lodgings 
not  with  weapons  to  fight  ;  so  we  like  better,  that 
entry  of  truth,  which  comes  peaceably  where  the 
Mindes  of  men,  capable  to  lodge  so  great  a  guest, 
are  signed,  as  it  were,  with  chalke ;  than  that  which 
comes  with  Pugnacity,  and  forceth  itselfe  a  way  by 
contentions  and  controversies." 

The  same  idea  is  embodied  in  the  following  example 
of  the  antitheta : — 

"A  witty  conceit  is  oftentimes  a  convoy  of  a  Truth 
which  otherwise  could  not  so  handsomely  have  been 
ferried  over." 

In  the  "Advancement  of  Learning,"  Lib.  II.,  again 
the  same  view  is  insisted  on  : — 

"  Besides  in  all  wise  humane  Government,  they 
that  sit  at  the  helme,  doe  more  happily  bring  their 
purposes  about,  and  insinuate  more  easily  things  fit 
for  the  people,  by  pretexts,  and  oblique  courses  ;  than 
by  downe-right  dealing.  Nay  (which  perchance  may 
seem  very  strange)  in  things  meerely  naturall,  you  may 
sooner  deceive  nature,  than  force  her ;  so  improper, 
and  selfe  impeaching  are  open  direct  proceedings ; 
whereas  on  the  other  side,  an  oblique  and  an  insinu- 
ing  way,  gently  glides  along  and  compasseth  the  intended 
effect.1' 

One  other  fact  must  be  realised  before  the  full  import 
of  the  quotations  about  to  be  made  can  be  appreciated. 
In  the  "  Distributio  Operis  "  prefixed  to  the  "  Novum 
Organum  "  the  following  significant  passage  occurs  *  : — 

*  Translation  by  Spedding,  "  Works,"  Vol. 'IV.,  p.  23. 


"THE   GREAT   INSTAURATION."  179 

"  For  as  often  as  I  have  occasion  to  report  anything 
as  deficient,  the  nature  of  which  is  at  all  obscure,  so 
that  men  may  not  perhaps  easily  understand  what  I 
mean  or  what  the  work  is  which  I  have  in  my  head,  I 
shall  always  (provided  it  be  a  matter  of  any  worth)  take 
care  to  subjoin  either  directions  for  the  execution  of 
such  work,  or  else  a  portion  of  the  work  itself  executed 
by  myself  as  a  sample  of  the  whole :  thus  giving 
assistance  in  every  case  either  by  work  or  by  counsel." 

In  the  "  Advancement  of  Learning,"  Book  II.,  chap,  i., 
it  is  written  : 

"That  is  the  truest  Partition  ot  humane  Learning, 
which  hath  reference  to  the  three  Faculties  of  Man's 
soule,  which  is  the  feat  of  Learning.  History  is  referred 
to  Memory,  Poesy  to  the  Imagination,  Philosophy  to 
Reason.  By  Poesy,  in  this  place,  we  understand  nothing 
else,  but  feigned  History,  or  Fables.  As  for  Verse,  that 
is  only  a  style  of  expression,  and  pertaines  to  the  Art  of 
Elocution,  of  which  in  due  place." 

"  Poesy,  in  that  sense  we  have  expounded  it,  is  like- 
wise of  Individualls,  fancied  to  the  similitude  of  those 
things  which  in  true  History  are  recorded,  yet  so  as 
often  it  exceeds  measure ;  and  those  things  which  in 
Nature  would  never  meet,  nor  come  to  passe,  Poesy 
composeth  and  introduceth  at  pleasure,  even  as  Painting 
doth  :  which  indeed  is  the  work  of  the  Imagination." 

And  in  the  same  book,  Chapter  XIII.  :— 

"  Drammaticall,  or  Representative  Poesy,  which 
brings  the  World  upon  the  stage,  is  of  excellent  use,  if 
it  were  not  abused.  For  the  Instructions,  and  Corrup- 
tions, of  the  Stage,  may  be  great ;  but  the  corruptions 
in  this  kind  abound,  the  Discipline  is  altogether 
neglected  in  our  times.  For  although  in  moderne 
Commonwealths,  Stage-plaies  be  but  estimed  a  sport  or 
pastime,  unlesse  it  draw  from  the  Satyre,  and  be  mor- 
dant ;  yet  the  care  of  the  Ancients  was,  that  it  should 


l8o       THE  MYSTERY  OF  FRANCIS  BACON. 

instruct  the  minds  of  men  unto  virtue.  Nay,  wise  men 
and  great  Philosophers,  have  accounted  it,  as  the 
Archet,  or  musicall  Bow  of  the  Mind.  And  certainly  it 
is  most  true,  and  as  it  were,  a  secret  of  nature,  that  the 
minds  of  men  are  more  patent  to  affections,  and  impres- 
sions, Congregate,  than  solitary." 

The  third  chapter  of  Book  VII.  of  the  "De  Aug- 
mentis"  is  devoted  to  emphasising  the  importance  of  a 
knowledge  of  the  internal  working  of  the  mind  and  of 
the  disposition  and  character  of  men.  The  following 
extracts  are  of  special  moment : — 

"  Some  are  naturally  formed  for  contemplation,  others 
for  business,  others  for  war,  others  for  advancement  of 
fortune,  others  for  love,  others  for  the  arts,  others  for  a 
varied  kind  of  life ;  so  among  the  poets  (heroic,  satiric, 
tragic,  comic)  are  everywhere  interspersed,  representa- 
tions of  characters,  though  generally  exaggerated  and 
surpassing  the  truth.  And  this  argument  touching  the 
different  characters  of  dispositions  is  one  of  those 
subjects  in  which  the  common  discourse  of  men  (as 
sometimes,  though  very  rarely,  happens)  is  wiser  than 
books." 

The  drama  as  the  only  vehicle  through  which  this  can 
be  accomplished  at  once  suggests  itself  to  the  reader. 
But  in  order  to  emphasize  this  point  he  proceeds — 

"But  far  the  best  provision  and  material  for  this 
treatise  is  to  be  gained  from  the  wiser  sort  of  historians, 
not  only  from  the  commemorations  which  they  com- 
monly add  on  recording  the  deaths  of  illustrious  persons, 
but  much  more  from  the  entire  body  of  history  as  often 
as  such  a  person  enters  upon  the  stage.1' 

Bacon  becomes  still  more  explicit.     He  continues: — 

"  Wherefore  out  of  these  materials  (which  are  surely 
rich  and  abundant)  let  a  full  and  careful  treatise  be 


"THE    GREAT    INSTALLATION."  l8l 

constructed.  Not,  however,  that  I  would  have  their 
characters  presented  in  ethics  (as  we  find  them  in 
history,  or  poetry,  or  even  in  common  discourse)  in  the 
shape  of  complete  individual  portraits,  but  rather  the 
several  features  and  simple  lineaments  of  which  they 
are  composed,  and  by  the  various  combinations  and 
arrangements  of  which  all  characters  whatever  are  made 
up,  showing  how  many,  and  of  what  nature  these  are, 
and  how  connected  and  subordinated  one  to  another ; 
that  so  we  may  have  a  scientific  and  accurate  dissection 
of  minds  and  characters,  and  the  secret  dispositions  of 
particular  men  may  be  revealed  ;  and  that  from  a  know- 
ledge thereof  better  rules  may  be  framed  for  the  treat- 
ment of  the  mind.  And  not  only  should  the  characters 
of  dispositions  which  are  impressed  by  nature  be  received 
into  this  treatise,  but  those  also  which  are  imposed  upon 
the  mind  by  sex,  by  age,  by  region,  by  health  and 
sickness,  by  beauty  and  deformity  and  the  like  ;  and 
again,  those  which  are  caused  by  fortune,  as  sove- 
reignty, nobility,  obscure  birth,  riches,  want,  magistracy, 
privateness,  prosperity,  adversity  and  the  like." 

Shortly  after  follows  this  remarkable  pronouncement. 

"  But  to  speak  the  truth  the  poets  and  writers  of 
history  are  the  best  doctors  of  this  knowledge,*  where 
we  may  find  painted  forth  with  great  life  and  dissected, 
how  affections  are  kindled  and  excited,  and  how 
pacified  and  restrained,  and  how  again  contained  from 
act  and  further  degree  ;  how  they  disclose  themselves, 
though  repressed  and  concealed  ;  how  they  work  ;  how 
they  vary  ;  how  they  are  enwrapped  one  within  another  ; 
how  they  fight  and  encounter  one  with  another ;  and 
many  more  particulars  of  this  kind  ;  amongst  which  this 
last  is  of  special  use  in  moral  and  civil  matters  ;  how,  I 
say,  to  set  affection  against  affection,  and  to  use  the  aid  of 

°The  knowledge  touching  the  affections  and  perturbations 
which  are  the  diseases  of  the  mind. 

N 


l82  THE   MYSTERY   OF   FRANCIS   BACON. 

one  to  master  another;  like  hunters  and  fowlers  who  use 
to  hunt  beast  with  beast,  and  catch  bird  with  bird,  which 
otherwise  perhaps  without  their  aid  man  of  himself 
could  not  so  easily  contrive  ;  upon  which  foundation  is 
erected  that  excellent  and  general  use  in  civil  govern- 
ment of  reward  and  punishment,  whereon  common- 
wealths lean  ;  seeing  these  predominant  affections  of  fear 
and  hope  suppress  and  bridle  all  the  rest.  For  as  in 
the  government  of  States  it  is  sometimes  necessary  to 
bridle  one  faction  with  another,  so  is  it  in  the  internal 
government  of  the  mind." 

In  his  "  Distributio   Operis "   Bacon  thus  describes 
the  missing  fourth  part  of  his  "  Instauratio  Magna  "  : — 

"  Of  these  the  first  is  to  set  forth  examples  of  inquiry 
and  invention  *  according  to  my   method  exhibited  by 
anticipation  in  some  particular  subjects  ;  choosing  such 
subjects  as  are  at  once  the  most  noble  in  themselves 
among  those  under  enquiry,  and  most  different  one  from 
another,  that  there  may  be  an  example  in  every  kind. 
I  do  not  speak  of  these  precepts  and  rules  by  way  of 
illustration    (for   of  these  I   have  given  plenty   in  the 
second  part  of  the  work) ;  but  I  mean  actual  types  and 
models,  by  which  the  entire  process  of  the  mind  and  the 
whole  fabric  and  order  of  invention  from  the  beginning 
to  the  end  in  certain  subjects,  and  those  various  and 
remarkable,  should  be  set  as  it  were  before  the  eyes. 
For  I  remember  that  in  the  mathematics  it  is  easy  to 
follow  the  demonstration  when  you   have  a   machine 
beside  you,  whereas,  without  that  help,  all  appears  in- 
volved and  more  subtle  than  it  really  is.     To  examples 
of  this   kind — being,    in    fact,  nothing    more   than   an 
application  of  the  second  part  in  detail  and  at  large — 
the  fourth  part  of  the  work  is  devoted." 

The  late  Mr.  Edwin  Reed  has.  in  his  "Francis  Bacon 
*  Tabula;  inveniendi. 


"THE    GREAT    INSTAURATION."  183 

our  Shakespeare,"  page  126,  drawn  attention  to  a  re- 
markable circumstance.  In  1607  Bacon  had  written 
his  "Cogitata  et  Visa,"  which  was  the  forerunner  of 
his  "Novum  Organum."  It  was  not  published  until 
twenty-seven  years  after  his  death,  namely,  in  1653,  by 
Isaac  Gruter,  at  Leyden.  In  1857  Mr.  Spedding  found 
a  manuscript  copy  of  the  "  Cogitata  "  in  the  library  of 
Queen's  College  at  Oxford.  This  manuscript  had  been 
corrected  in  Bacon's  own  handwriting.  It  contained 
passages  which  were  omitted  from  Gruter's  print. 
Spedding  did  not  realise  the  importance  of  the  omitted 
passages,  but  Mr.  Edwin  Reed  has  made  this  manifest. 
The  following  extract  is  specially  noteworthy,  the 
portion  printed  in  italics  having  been  omitted  by 
Gruter : — 

"...  So  he  thought  best,  after  long  considering  the 
subject  and  weighing  it  carefully,  first  of  all  to  prepare 
Tabula  Inveniendi  or  regular  forms  of  inquiry  ;  in  other 
words,  a  mass  of  particulars  arranged  for  the  under- 
standing, and  to  serve,  as  it  were,  for  an  example  and 
almost  visible  representation  of  the  matter.  For  nothing 
else  can  be  devised  that  would  place  in  a  clearer  light 
what  is  true  and  what  is  false,  or  show  more  plainly 
that  what  is  presented  is  more  than  words,  and  must 
be  avoided  by  anyone  who  either  has  no  confidence  in 
his  own  scheme  or  may  wish  to  have  his  scheme  taken 
for  more  than  it  is  worth. 

"But  when  these  Tabula  Inveniendi  have  been  put 
forth  and  seen,  he  does  not  doubt  that  the  more  timid 
wits  will  shrink  almost  in  despair  from  imitating  them 
with  similar  productions  with  other  materials  or  on  other 
subjects  ;  and  they  will  take  so  much  delight  in  the  speci- 
men given  that  they  will  miss  the  precepts  in  it.  Still, 
many  persons  will  be  led  to  inquire  into  the  real  meaning 
and  highest  use  of  these  writings,  and  to  find  the  key  to 
their  interpretation,  and  thus  more  ardently  desire,  in  some 
degree  at  least,  to  acquire  the  new  aspect  of  nature  which 


184       THE  MYSTERY  OF  FRANCIS  BACON. 

such  a  key  will  reveal.  But  he  intends,  yielding  neither 
to  his  own  personal  aspirations  nor  to  the  wishes  of  others, 
but  keeping  steadily  in  view  the  success  of  his  under- 
taking, having  shared  these  writings  with  some,  to  with- 
hold the  rest  until  the  treatise  intended  for  the  people 
shall  be  published.'" 

Now  what  conclusions  may  be  drawn  from  the  fore- 
going extracts  ?  Bacon  attached  the  greatest  import- 
ance to  the  consideration  of  the  internal  life  of  man. 
He  affirms  that  dramaticall  or  representative  poesy, 
which  brings  the  world  upon  the  stage,  is  of  excellent 
use  if  it  be  not  abused.  The  discipline  of  the  stage 
was  neglected  in  his  time,  but  the  care  of  the  ancients 
was  that  it  should  instruct  the  minds  of  men  unto 
virtue,  and  wise  men  and  great  philosophers  accounted 
it  as  the  musical  bow  of  the  mind.  He  has  devoted 
the  fourth  part  of  his  "  Instauratio  Magna  "  to  setting 
forth  examples  of  inquiry  and  invention,  choosing  such 
subjects  as  are  at  once  the  most  noble  in  themselves 
and  the  most  different  one  from  another,  that  there 
may  be  an  example  in  every  kind.  He  is  not  speaking 
of  precepts  and  rules  by  way  of  interpretation,  but 
actual  types  and  models  by  which  the  entire  process  of 
the  mind,  and  the  whole  fabric  and  order  of  invention, 
should  be  set,  as  it  were,  before  the  eyes. 

Not  only  should  the  characters  of  dispositions  which 
are  impressed  by  nature  be  received  into  this  treatise, 
but  those  also  which  are  imposed  upon  the  mind  by 
sex,  by  age,  by  region,  by  health  and  sickness,  by 
beauty  and  deformity,  and  the  like;  and,  again,  those 
that  are  caused  by  fortune,  as  sovereignty,  nobility, 
obscure  birth,  riches,  want,  magistracy,  privateness, 
prosperity,  adversity,  and  the  like. 

The  fourth  part  of  Bacon's  "  Great  Instauration  "  is 
missing.  The  above  requirements  are  met  in  the 
Shakespeare  plays.  Could  the  dramas  be  more  accu- 
rately described  than  in  the  foregoing  extracts  ? 


"THE  GREAT   INSTAURATION."  185 

From  a  study  of  the  plays  let  a  list  be  made  out  of  the 
qualifications  which  the  author  must  have  possessed.  It 
will  be  found  that  the  only  person  in  whom  every 
qualification  will  be  found  who  has  lived  in  any  age 
of  any  country  was  Francis  Bacon.  Any  investigator 
who  will  devote  the  time  and  trouble  requisite  for  an 
exhaustive  examination  of  the  subject  can  come  to  no 
other  conclusion. 

One  cannot  without  feeling  deep  regret  recognise  that 
we  have  to  turn  to  a  foreigner  to  give  "  reasons  for  the 
faith  which  we  English  have  in  Shakespeare."  It  was 
a  German,  Schlegel,  who  discovered  the  great  dramatist, 
and  to-day  we  must  turn  to  his  "  Lectures  on  the 
Drama "  for  the  most  penetrating  description  of  his 
plays.  The  following  is  a  translation  of  a  passage 
which  in  describing  the  plays  almost  adopts  the  words 
Bacon  uses  in  the  foregoing  passages  as  to  the  scope 
and  object  of  the  fourth  part  of  his  "Great  Instaura- 
tion." 

"  Never,  perhaps,  was  there  so  comprehensive  a  talent 
for  the  delineation  of  character  as  Shakespeare's.  It 
not  only  grasps  the  diversities  of  rank,  sex,  and  age, 
down  to  the  dawnings  of  infancy  ;  not  only  do  the  king 
and  the  beggar,  the  hero  and  the  pickpocket,  the  sage 
and  the  idiot  speak  and  act  with  equal  truth  ;  not  only 
does  he  transport  himself  to  distant  ages  and  foreign 
nations,  and  portray  in  the  most  accurate  manner,  with 
only  a  few  apparent  violations  of  costume,  the  spirit  of 
the  ancient  Romans,  of  the  French  in  their  wars  with 
the  English,  of  the  English  themselves  during  a  great 
part  of  their  history,  of  the  Southern  Europeans  (in  the 
serious  part  of  many  comedies),  the  cultivated  society 
of  that  time,  and  the  former  rude  and  barbarous  state  of 
the  North  ;  his  human  characters  have  not  only  such 
depth  and  precision  that  they  cannot  be  arranged  under 
classes,  and  are  inexhaustible,  even  in  conception  ;  no, 
this  Prometheus  not  merely  forms  men,  he  opens  the 


l86  THE   MYSTERY   OF   FRANCIS    BACON. 

* 

gates  of  the  magical  world  of  spirits,  calls  up  the  mid- 
night ghost,  exhibits  before  us  his  witches  amidst  their 
unhallowed  mysteries,  peoples  the  air  with  sportive 
fairies  and  sylphs  ;  and  these  beings,  existing  only  in 
imagination,  possess  such  truth  and  consistency  that 
even  when  deformed  monsters  like  Caliban,  he  extorts 
the  conviction  that  if  there  should  be  such  beings  they 
would  so  conduct  themselves.  In  a  word,  as  he  carries 
with  him  the  most  fruitful  and  daring  fancy  into  the 
kingdom  of  nature  ;  on  the  other  hand,  he  carries  nature 
into  the  regions  of  fancy,  lying  beyond  the  confines  of 
reality.  We  are  lost  in  astonishment  at  seeing  the  ex- 
traordinary, the  wonderful,  and  the  unheard  of  in  such 
intimate  nearness." 

"  If  Shakespeare  deserves  our  admiration  for  his 
characters  he  is  equally  deserving  of  it  for  his  exhibition 
of  passion,  taking  this  word  in  its  widest  signification, 
as  including  every  mental  condition,  every  tone  from 
indifference  or  familiar  mirth  to  the  wildest  rage  and 
despair.  He  gives  us  the  history  of  minds,  he  lays  open 
to  us  in  a  single  word  a  whole  series  of  preceding  con- 
ditions. His  passions  do  not  at  first  stand  displayed  to  us 
in  all  their  height,  as  is  the  case  with  so  many  tragic  poets 
who,  in  the  language  of  Lessing,  are  thorough  masters 
of  the  legal  style  of  love.  He  paints,  in  a  most  inimit- 
able manner,  the  gradual  progress  from  the  first  origin. 
'  He  gives,'  as  Lessing  says,  'a  living  picture  of  all  the 
most  minute  and  secret  artifices  by  which  a  feeling 
steals  into  our  souls  ;  of  all  the  imperceptible  advantages 
which  it  there  gains,  of  all  the  stratagems  by  which 
every  other  passion  is  made  subservient  to  it,  till  it 
becomes  the  sole  tyrant  of  our  desires  and  our  aver- 
sions.' Of  all  poets,  perhaps,  he  alone  has  portrayed 
the  mental  diseases — melancholy,  delirium,  lunacy — with 
such  inexpressible,  and  in  every  respect  definite  truth, 
that  the  physician  may  enrich  his  observations  from 
them  in  the  same  manner  as  from  real  cases." 


i87 


CHAPTER  XXV. 
THE    PHILOSOPHY    OF    BACON. 

To  attempt  any  thing  of  the  nature  of  a  review  of  Bacon's 
acknowledged  works  is  a  task  far  too  great  for  the  scope 
of  the  present  volume.  To  attempt  a  survey  of  the 
whole  of  his  works  would  require  years  of  diligent  study, 
and  would  necessitate  a  perusal  of  nearly  every  book 
published  in  England  between  1576  and  1630.  Not  that 
it  is  suggested  that  all  the  literature  of  this  period  was 
the  product  of  his  pen  or  was  produced  under  his  super- 
vision, but  each  book  published  should  be  read  and  con- 
sidered with  attention  to  arrive  at  a  selection. 

There  has  been  no  abler  judgment  of  the  acknow- 
ledged works  than  that  which  will  be  found  in  William 
Hazlitt's  "Lectures  on  the  Literature  of  the  Age  of 
Elizabeth."  Lecture  VII.  commences  with  an  account 
of  the  "  Character  of  Bacon's  Works." 

It  may  not,  however,  be  out  of  place  here  to  try  and 
make  plain  in  what  sense  Bacon  was  a  philosopher. 

In  Chapter  CXVI.  of  the  "  Novum  Organum  "  he 
makes  his  position  clear  in  the  following  words  : — 

"  First  then  I  must  request  men  not  to  suppose  that 
after  the  fashion  of  ancient  Greeks,  and  of  certain 
moderns,  as  Telesius,  Patricius,  Severinus,  I  wish  to 
found  a  new  sect  in  philosophy.  For  this  is  not  what 
I  am  about ;  nor  do  I  think  that  it  matters  much  to 
the  fortunes  of  men  what  abstract  notions  one  may 
entertain  concerning  nature  and  the  principles  of  things  ; 
and  no  doubt  many  old  theories  of  this  kind  can  be 
revived,  and  many  new  ones  introduced  ;  just  as  many 
theories  of  the  heavens  may  be  supposed  which  agree 


l88       THE  MYSTERY  OF  FRANCIS  BACON. 

well  enough  with  the  phenomena  and  yet  differ  with 
each  other. 

"For  my  part,  I  do  not  trouble  myself  with  any 
such  speculative  and  withal  unprofitable  matters.  My 
purpose  on  the  contrary,  is  to  try  whether  I  cannot  in 
very  fact  lay  more  firmly  the  foundations  and  extend 
more  widely  the  limits  of  the  power  and  greatness  of 
man  ...  I  have  no  entire  or  universal  theory  to  pro- 
pound." 

So  the  idea  that  there  was  what  is  termed  a  system 
of  philosophy  constructed  by  Bacon  must  be  abandoned. 
What  justification  is  there  for  calling  him  the  father 
of  the  Inductive  Philosophy  ? 

It  is  difficult  to  answer  this  question.  Spedding 
admits  that  Bacon  was  not  the  first  to  break  down  the 
dominion  of  Aristotle.  That  followed  the  awakening 
throughout  the  intellectual  world  which  was  brought 
about  by  the  Reformation  and  the  revival  of  learning. 
Sir  John  Herschel  justifies  the  application  to  Bacon  of 
the  term  "  The  great  Reformer  of  Philosophy  "  not  on 
the  ground  that  he  introduced  inductive  reasoning,  but 
because  of  his  "  keen  perception  and  his  broad  and 
spirit-stirring,  almost  enthusiastic  announcement  of  its 
paramount  importance,  as  the  Alpha  and  Omega  of 
science,  as  the  grand  and  only  chain  for  linking  to- 
gether of  physical  truths  and  the  eventual  key  to  every 
discovery  and  application." 

Bacon  was  60  years  of  age  when  his  "Novum  Or- 
ganum  "  was  published.  It  was  founded  on  a  tract  he  had 
written  in  1607,  which  he  called  "Cogitataet  Visa,"  not 
printed  until  long  after  his  death.  He  had  previously 
published  a  portion  of  his  Essays,  the  two  books  on  "  The 
Advancement  of  Learning  "and  "The  Wisdom  of  the 
Ancients."  Just  at  the  end  of  his  life  he  gave  to  the 
world  the  "  Novum  Organum,"  accompanied  by  "  The 
Parasceve."  Certainly  it  was  not  understood  in  his 
time.  Coke  described  it  as  only  fit  to  freight  the  Ship  of 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  BACON.          189 

Fools,  and  the  King  likened  it  "to  the  peace  of  God 
which  passeth  all  understanding."  It  is  admittedly  in- 
complete, and  Bacon  made  no  attempt  in  subsequent 
years  to  complete  it.  It  is  a  book  that  if  read  and  re- 
read becomes  fascinating.  Taine  describes  it  as  "  a 
string  of  aphorisms,  a  collection  as  it  were  of  scientific 
decrees  as  of  an  oracle  who  foresees  the  future  and 
reveals  the  truth."  "  It  is  intuition  not  reasoning,"  he 
adds.  The  wisdom  contained  in  its  pages  is  profound. 
An  understanding  of  the  interpretation  of  the  Idols 
and  the  Instances  has  so  far  evaded  all  commentators. 
Who  can  explain  the  "  Latent  Process  "  ?  But  the  book 
contains  no  scheme  of  arrangement.  Therein  is  found 
a  series  of  desultory  discourses — full  of  wisdom,  rich  in 
analogies,  abundant  in  observation  and  profound  in 
comprehension.  From  here  and  there  in  it  with  the 
help  of  the  "  Parasceve  "  one  can  grasp  the  intention 
of  the  great  philosopher. 

In  Chapter  LXI.  he  says  : — "But  the  course  I  pro- 
pose for  the  discovery  of  sciences  is  such  as  leaves  but 
little  to  the  acuteness  and  strength  of  wits,  but  places 
all  wits  and  understandings  on  a  level."  How  was  this 
to  be  accomplished  ?  By  the  systemization  of  labour 
expended  on  scientific  research.  A  catalogue  of  the 
particulars  of  histories  which  were  to  be  prepared  is 
appended  to  the  "Parasceve."  It  embraces  every 
subject  conceivable.  In  Chapter  CXI.  he  says,  "  I 
plainly  confess  that  a  collection  of  history,  natural 
and  experimental,  such  as  I  conceive  it,  and  as  it  ought 
to  be,  is  a  great,  I  may  say  a  royal  work,  and  of  much 
labour  and  expense." 

In  the  "Parasceve  "  he  says  : — "If  all  the  wits  of  all 
the  ages  had  met  or  shall  hereafter  meet  together  ;  if  the 
whole  human  race  had  applied  or  shall  hereafter  apply 
themselves  to  philosophy,  and  the  whole  earth  had 
been  or  shall  be  nothing  but  academies  and  colleges 
and  schools  of  learned  men  ;  still  without  a  natural  and 


IQO  THE   MYSTERY   OF   FRANCIS   BACON. 

experimental  history  such  as  I  am  going  to  prescribe,  no 
progress  worthy  of  the  human  race  could  have  been 
made  or  can  be  made  in  philosophy  and  the  sciences. 
Whereas  on  the  other  hand  let  such  a  history  be  once 
provided  and  well  set  forth  and  let  there  be  added  to  it 
such  auxiliary  and  light-giving  experiments  as  in  the 
very  course  of  interpretation  will  present  themselves  or 
will  have  to  be  found  out ;  and  the  investigation  of 
nature  and  of  all  sciences  will  be  the  work  of  a  few 
years.  This  therefore  must  be  done  or  the  business 
given  up." 

To  carry  out  this  work  an  army  of  workers  was 
required.  In  the  preparation  of  each  history  some  were 
to  make  a  rough  and  general  collection  of  facts.  Their 
work  was  to  be  handed  over  to  others  who  would 
arrange  the  facts  in  order  for  reference.  This  accom- 
plished, others  would  examine  to  get  rid  of  super- 
fluities. Then  would  be  brought  in  those  who  would 
re-arrange  that  which  was  left  and  the  history  would 
be  completed. 

From  Chapter  GUI.  it  is  clear  that  Bacon  contem- 
plated that  eventually  all  the  experiments  of  all  the 
arts,  collected  and  digested,  should  be  brought  within  one 
man's  knowledge  and  judgment.  This  man,  having  a 
supreme  view  of  the  whole  range  of  subjects,  would 
transfer  experiments  of  one  art  to  another  and  so  lead 
"  to  the  discovery  of  many  new  things  of  service  to  the 
life  and  state  of  man." 

Nearly  three  hundred  years  have  passed  since  Bacon 
propounded  his  scheme.  The  arts  and  sciences  have 
been  greatly  advanced.  They  might  have  proceeded 
more  rapidly  had  the  histories  been  prepared,  but  since 
his  time  there  has  arisen  no  man  who  has  taken  "all 
knowledge  to  be  his  province" — no  man  who  could 
occupy  the  position  Bacon  contemplated. 

The  method  by  which  the  induction  was  to  be  fol- 
lowed is  described  in  Chapter  CV.  There  must  be  an 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  BACON.          IQI 

analysis  of  nature  by  proper  rejections  and  exclusions, 
and  then,  after  a  sufficient  number  of  negatives,  a  con- 
clusion should  be  arrived  at  from  the  affirmative 
instances.  "  It  is  in  this  induction,"  Bacon  adds, 
"  that  our  chief  hope  lies." 

Bacon's  new  organ  has  never  been  constructed,  and 
all  wits  and  understandings  have  not  yet  been  placed  0:1 
a  level. 

We  come  back  to  the  mystery  of  Francis  Bacon,  the 
possessor  of  the  most  exquisite  intellect  that  was  ever 
bestowed  on  any  of  the  children  of  men.  As  an  his- 
torian, he  gives  us  a  taste  of  his  quality  in  "  Henry  VII." 
In  the  Essays  and  the  "  Novum  Organum,"  sayings 
which  have  the  effect  of  axioms  are  at  once  striking 
and  self-evident.  But  he  is  always  desultory.  In  per- 
ceiving analogies  between  things  which  have  nothing  in 
common  he  never  had  an  equal,  and  this  characteristic, 
to  quote  Macaulay,  "occasionally  obtained  the  master}' 
over  all  his  other  faculties  and  led  him  into  absurdities 
into  which  no  dull  man  could  have  fallen."  His 
memory  was  so  stored  with  materials,  and  these  so 
diverse,  that  in  similitude  or  with  comparison  he 
passed  from  subject  to  subject.  In  the  "Advancement 
of  Learning  "  are  enumerated  the  deficiencies  which 
Bacon  observed,  nearly  the  whole  of  which  were  supplied 
during  his  lifetime. 

The  "  Sylva  Sylvarum "  is  the  most  extraordinary 
jumble  of  facts  and  observations  that  has  ever  been 
brought  together.  It  is  a  literary  curiosity.  The 
"New  Atlantis"  and  other  short  works  in  quantity 
amount  to  very  little.  Bacon's  life  has  hitherto  re- 
mained unaccounted  for.  In  the  foregoing  pages 
an  attempt  has  been  made  to  offer  an  intelligible 
explanation  of  the  work  to  which  he  devoted  his  life, 
namely,  to  supply  the  deficiences  which  he  had  himself 
pointed  out  and  which  retarded  the  advancement  of 
learning. 


IQ2       THE  MYSTERY  OF  FRANCIS  BACON. 

Hallam  has  said  of  Bacon :  "  If  we  compare  what 
may  be  found  in  the  sixth,  seventh,  and  eighth  books 
of  the  'De  Augmentis,'  and  the  various  short  treatises 
contained  in  his  works  on  moral  and  political  wisdom  and 
on  human  nature,  with  the  rhetoric,  ethics,  and  politics 
of  Aristotle,  or  with  the  historians  most  celebrated 
for  their  deep  insight  into  civil  society  and  human 
character  —  with  Thucydides,  Tacitus,  Phillipe  de 
Comines,  Machiavel,  David  Hume — we  shall,  I  think, 
find  that  one  man  may  almost  be  compared  with  all  of 
these  together." 

Pope  wrote  :  "  Lord  Bacon  was  the  greatest  genius 
that  England,  or  perhaps  any  other  country,  ever  pro- 
duced." If  an  examination,  more  thorough  than  has 
hitherto  been  made,  of  the  records  and  literature  of 
his  age  establishes  beyond  doubt  the  truth  of  the  sug- 
gestions which  have  now  been  put  forward,  what  more 
can  be  said  ?  This  at  any  rate,  that  to  him  shall  be 
given  that  title  to  which  he  aspired  and  for  which  he 
was  willing  to  renounce  his  own  name.  He  shall  be 
called  "The  Benefactor  of  Mankind." 


193 


APPENDIX. 

SIR  THOMAS  BODLEY  left  behind  him  a  short  history 
of  his  life  which  is  of  a  fragmentary  description.  One- 
fourth  of  it  is  devoted  to  a  record  of  how  much  he 
suffered  in  permitting  Essex  to  urge  his  advancement 
in  the  State.  The  following  is  the  passage  : — 

"  Now  here  I  can  not  choose  but  in  making  report  of 
the  principall  accidents  that  have  fallen    unto    me  in 
the  course  of  my  life,  but  record  among  the  rest,  that 
from  the  very  first  day  I  had  no  man  more  to  friend 
among  the  Lords  of  the  Councell,  than  was  the  Lord 
Treasurer    Burleigh :    for    when    occasion    had    beene 
offered  of  declaring  his  conceit  as  touching  my  service, 
he  would  alwaies  tell  the  Queen  (which  I  received  from 
her  selfe  and  some  other  ear-witnesses)  that  there  was 
not  any  man  in  England  so  meet  as  myselfe  to  undergoe 
the  office  of  the  Secretary.     And  sithence  his  sonne, 
the  present  Lord  Treasurer,  hath  signified  unto  me  in 
private  conference,  that  when  his  father  first  intended 
to  advance  him  to  that  place,  his  purpose  was  withall 
to  make  me  his  Colleague.     But  the  case  stood  thus 
in  my  behalf:  before  such  time  as  I  returned  from  the 
Provinces  united,   which    was   in   the   yeare  1597,  and 
likewise  after  my  returne,  the  then  Earle  of  Essex  did 
use  me  so  kindly  both  by  letters  and   messages,  and 
other  great  tokens  of  his  inward  favours  to  me,  that 
although  I  had  no  meaning,  but  to  settle  in  my  mind 
my  chiefest  desire    and    dependance    upon    the    Lord 
Burleigh,  as  one  that  I  reputed  to  be  both  the  best  able, 
and  therewithall  the  most  willing  to  worke  my  advance- 
ment with  the  Queene,  yet  I  know  not  how,  the  Earle, 
who  fought  by  all  devices  to  divert  her  love  and  liking 


IQ4  THE   MYSTERY   OF  FRANCIS  BACON. 

both  from  the  Father  and  the  Son  (but  from  the  Sonne 
in  speciall)  to  withdraw  my  affection  from  the  one  and 
the  other,  and  to  winne  mee  altogether  to  depend  upon 
himselfe,  did  so  often  take  occasion  to  entertaine  the 
Queene  with  some  prodigall  speeches  of  my  sufficiency 
for  a  Secretary,  which  were  ever  accompanied  with 
words  of  disgrace  against  the  present  Lord  Treasurer, 
as  neither  she  her  selfe,  of  whose  favour  before  I  was 
thoroughly  assured,  took  any  great  pleasure  to  preferre 
me  the  sooner,  (for  she  hated  his  ambition,  and  would 
give  little  countenance  to  any  of  his  followers)  and  both 
the  Lord  Burleigh  and  his  Sonne  waxed  jealous  of  my 
courses,  as  if  under  hand  I  had  beene  induced  by  the 
cunning  and  kindnesse  of  the  Earle  of  Essex,  to  oppose 
my  selfe  against  their  dealings.  And  though  in  very 
truth  they  had  no  solid  ground  at  all  of  the  least 
alteration  in  my  disposition  towards  either  of  them 
both,  (for  I  did  greatly  respect  their  persons  and  places, 
with  a  settled  resolution  to  doe  them  any  service,  as 
also  in  my  heart  I  detested  to  be  held  of  any  faction 
whatsoever)  yet  the  now  Lord  Treasurer,  upon  occasion 
of  some  talke,  that  I  have  since  had  with  him,  of  the 
Earle  and  his  actions,  hath  freely  confessed  of  his 
owne  accord  unto  me,  that  his  daily  provocations  were 
so  bitter  and  sharpe  against  him,  and  his  comparisons 
so  odious,  when  he  put  us  in  a  ballance,  as  he  thought 
thereupon  he  had  very  great  reason  to  use  his 
best  meanes,  to  put  any  man  out  of  hope  of  raising 
his  fortune,  whom  the  Earle  with  such  violence,  to 
his  extreame  prejudice,  had  endeavoured  to  dignifie. 
And  this,  as  he  affirmed,  was  all  the  motive  he  had  to 
set  himselfe  against  me,  in  whatsoever  might  redound  to 
the  bettering  of  my  estate,  or  increasing  of  my  credit 
and  countenance  with  the  Queene.  When  I  hae 
thoroughly  now  bethought  me,  first  in  the  Earle,  of  the 
slender  hold-fast  that  he  had  in  the  favour  of  the  Queene, 
of  an  endlesse  opposition  of  the  cheifest  of  our  States- 


APPENDIX.  195 

men  like  still  to  waite  upon  him,  of  his  perillous,  and 
feeble,  and  uncertain  advice,  as  well  in  hisowne,  as  in  all 
the  causes  of  his  friends :  and  when  moreover  for  my  selfe 
I  had  fully  considered  how  very  untowardly  these  two 
Counsellours  were  affected  unto  me,  (upon  whom  before 
in  cogitation  I  had  framed  all  the  fabrique  of  my  future 
prosperity)  how  ill  it  did  concurre  with  my  naturall  dis- 
position, to  become,  or  to  be  counted  either  a  stickler  or 
partaker  in  any  publique  faction,  how  well  I  was  able, 
by  God's  good  blessing,  to  live  of  my  selfe,  if  I  could  be 
content  with  a  competent  livelyhood ;  how  short  time 
of  further  life  I  was  then  to  expect  by  the  common 
course  of  nature  :  when  I  had,  I  say,  in  this  manner 
represented  to  my  thoughts  my  particular  estate, 
together  with  the  Earles,  I  resolved  thereupon  to  pos- 
sesse  my  soule  in  peace  all  the  residue  of  my  daies,  to 
take  my  full  farewell  of  State  imployments,  to  satisfie 
my  mind  with  that  mediocrity  of  worldly  living  that  I 
had  of  my  owne,  and  so  to  retire  me  from  the  Court, 
which  was  the  epilogue  and  end  of  all  my  actions  and 
endeavours  of  any  important  note,  till  I  came  to  the  age 
of  fifty-three." 

The  experience  of  Bodley  and  Bacon  appears  to  have 
been  identical.  It  certainly  materially  strengthens  the 
case  of  those  who  contend  that  Bacon's  conduct  to 
Essex  was  not  deserving  of  censure  on  the  ground  of 
ingratitude  for  favours  received  from  him. 

The  words  which  Robert  Cecil  addressed  to  Bodley, 
namely,  that  "  he  had  very  great  reason  to  use  his  best 
rneanes,  to  put  any  man  out  of  hope  of  raising  his 
fortune  whom  the  Earle  with  such  violence,  to  his 
extreame  prejudice  had  endeavoured  to  dignifie,"  would 
with  equal  force  have  been  applied  to  Bacon's  case. 
The  drift  of  Bodley's  account  of  the  matter  points  to 
his  feeling  that  Essex's  conduct  had  not  been  of  a 
disinterested  character,  and  suggests  that  he  felt  the 
Earle  had  been  making  a  tool  of  him. 


196  THE   MYSTERY   OF   FRANCIS   BACON. 

The  effect  of  this  was  that  Bodley  adopted  the  course 
which  Bacon  threatened  to  adopt  when  refused  the 
office  of  Attorney-General,  solicited  for  him  by  Essex 
— he  took  a  farewell  of  State  employments  and  retired 
from  the  Court  to  devote  himself  to  the  service  of  his 
"Reverend  Mother,  the  University  of  Oxford,"  and  to 
the  advancement  of  her  good.  To  this  end  he  became 
a  collector  of  books,  whereas  Bacon  would  have  be- 
come "  some  sorry  book-maker  or  a  true  pioner  in 
that  mine  of  truth  which  Anaxagoras  said  lay  so  deep." 


ROBERT  BANKS  AND   SON,  RACQUET  COURT,   FLEET  STREET. 


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Figure  IX. 


Figure  XX. 


Figure  XIV. 


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Figure  XV. 


Figure  XL 


Figure  XII. 


Figure  XXL 


GENEALOGIES 

RECORDED  IN.  THE  SA- 

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and  TRIBE. 

WITH 

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MARY. 


I.  S. 


CVM  PRIYILEGIO. 


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